Tori Short Stories Collection
by ShadowBat48
Summary: All Tori Short Stories compiled into one continuous story. Summaries within the story. Takes place in the Things to Remember Series.
1. Table of Contents

A/N: I created a bunch of short stories revolving around my OC Tori Crowne before that series petered off into a hiatus. I realized that perhaps including separate short stories was a bit of a hassle and uninteresting so I decided to delete the singular stories and compile them all together in one continuous story. There are _no new stories_, just the ones that already exist. Reading my series _Things To Remember_, _Things to Understand_, _Things to Resolve_ and as much of _Things of the Future_ that is written for some background and to understand what has happened, what is happening and the relationships that exist is highly recommended as you will be very confused otherwise. Some characters that are mentioned in my _Nobody's Weapon_ series make an appearance, but they are _not_ related nor are the same people/characters. I just reused some names.

Please enjoy these stories and leave a review if you'd like!

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: **FOOD FIGHT**

Tori is home for the weekend, so is Tim and they are both down in the dumps about college work. Damian is flustered about his own unintentional botched assignment. Once dinner starts though, all are to blame for an impromptu good old fashioned food fight to forget all the stress!

Chapter 2: **HALLOWEEN PARTY**

Tori is excited about a Halloween party someone at her college is throwing and she wants to bring Jason along. Though Jason is skeptical about the whole party, Tori is determined for him to see the fun on the holiday and choosing a couples costume from the three she picked to chose from.

Chapter 3: **DANGEROUS NIGHTS**

Tori is woken late at night - or early in the morning - by a pounding on her door, which reveals an injured person that only she can fix!

Chapter 4: **KNOWING**

Ever wonder what went through the thoughts of Tori's closest and most loved family and friends on the day she returned to Gotham? Well here are four different people's innermost thoughts on her return, their actions, and their emotions.

Chapter 5: **IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...**

Tori is getting ready for the holidays away from prying eyes in Jason's safe house. Too bad Jason comes home early trying to sneak a peek at his Christmas present! Featuring Tori singing, Jason and Tori sass and a Charlie Brown Christmas tree! Plus adorableness!

Chapter 6: **SKIING**

A wintery business trip that Dick, Tim, Tori, and Damian are brought along on goes awry when new skier Damian goes off trail forcing Tori and Tim to go after him...and to get a little lost.

Chapter 7: **STAR WARS!**

Tori, Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian all go to see the new Star Wars film. No one knows what to expect. Amusing arguments and some allusions to what happens!

Chapter 8: **ELEVATORS**

Tori, Tim and Dick are goofing around in an elevator when it gets stuck, but when you're three vigilantes, you're never really stuck for long, are you?

Chapter 9: **DANGEROUS NIGHTS II PART I**

Tori's on the run from a certain Talon from her past, alone and without close help. Will Red Robin and Nightwing get to her side in time? Or will she fall from the tangle with the past?

Chapter 10: **DANGEROUS NIGHTS II PART II**

Follow up to when Tori is attacked by a Talon from her past. Stephanie keeps Tori company while she recovers and Jason stops by for a visit a few days after the attack with things to say about Tori's reckless behavior a few days after she's fully healed.

Chapter 11: **BABYSITTING**

Tori is doing a favor for a friend and babysitting her little niece, too bad she didn't know how little that little niece was and she's out of practice! Thankfully some help comes along unexpectedly in the night.

Chapter 12: **FRUSTRATION**

Tori is struggling to learn restraint when fighting and is having difficulty pulling back on her blows and her anger. Bruce is there to offer some insight as to how to prevent more bloodshed by her hand.

Chapter 13: **CAUGHT**

Damian and Tori are caught in somewhat of a pickle, though the thugs that caught them are very new to the whole 'Thug' shtick and are unprepared for the storm that is to follow their capture.

Chapter 14: **ICE SKATING**

Tori is learning how to ice skate and is getting quite frustrated as she does. It isn't helping that Tim, Dick, Jason, and Damian are laughing at her as she tries.

Chapter 15: **MIDNIGHT MAC N' CHEESE**

After waking from a particularly vexing nightmare, Tori wanders through the manor until she comes to the kitchen to find her brother making a midnight snack to avoid the remnants of his own troubled thoughts.

Chapter 16: **JUST A MUNDANE DAY**

Tim, Tori, and Damian accompany Bruce on a business summit to Turks and Caicos where they finally relax on a nice beach. Nothing could ruin this perfect day even if someone tried!

Chapter 17: **FAMILY FUN**

Tori and Dick visit Ali and Cameron in London and go on a fun little trip to a trampoline park! Perfect for two acrobat and gymnastic professionals. They are set on teaching Ali some tricks to do on her own, too bad the lessons end abruptly.

Chapter 18:** NOT A WALK IN THE PARK**

Tori and Stephanie are out for a run one actually sunny day in Gotham when they quite literally collide into someone from Tori's past. Snide comments and rudeness is in store. [Tim's only mentioned. Sorry]

Chapter 19: **HOSPITAL VISIT**

After Tori's friend Jenna goes to the hospital to have her tonsils removed, she, Stephanie and Tim go for a visit...which goes horribly wrong due to Tori's memories of the past.

Chapter 20: **ARGUING**

Tim and Tori return from a particularly eventful and funny night of patrol and argue trying to assign blame for what happened. Of course, it turns into a teasing, funny and only slightly argumentative argument.

Chapter 21: **CONFESSIONS AND REFLECTIONS**

Tori is visiting someone long gone from the past and has a heart to heart through confessions and reflections of that past with them. Also letting them know where she is heading in her life and who she loves and looks up to.


	2. FOOD FIGHT

A/N: Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Tori sat slumped in her seat at the dining table waiting for everyone to come in and sit down. She was home, at Wayne Manor, for the weekend. It had been a tough week. Tori was taking a biology course and she had to dissect a frog…a _frog._ With a _scalpel,_ tweezers and plastic aprons. Tim was thankfully in that class since Stephanie opted to take Chemistry. Tori had flat out refused to dissect the frog. Tim understood…their professor on the other hand…no dice. She had till the end of this week to finish the lab, if she didn't, she'd fail the lab which was not good in college, not good at all.

It wasn't as if she could _tell_ the professor why she didn't want to dissect the frog. You can't just go up to any old professor and say 'I can't dissect this frog because I know exactly what if feels like to be cut open and picked and prodded at and then sewed up like nothing had happened. I know what it feels like to be used for 'science' I knew what it feels like to be constantly experimented on and used against my will.' They wouldn't believe you or they'd send you to Arkham. She'd give anything to be able to tell the truth for once, something she'd rather do from now on since she'd lied about not going after Mac when Bruce had left his file up on the computer, but it was hard. It was so very hard because she had to lie every day. No one, not even her friend Jenna knew about why she really disappeared and people only knew what the news told everyone about her first abduction by Mac. So there was no one to tell the truth too. Life sucked sometimes.

Tori tapped her fingers against the wooden oak table, wondering whether she was too early to sit down. It didn't really matter, Bruce was staying late a work that day so it was just her, Tim and Damian. Damian absolutely despised school so he was grumpy all the time. He went nonetheless. Tori believed he secretly liked going to school, he just acted like he didn't, not just to get attention, but so that his father wouldn't be right when he told Damian he would like the Academy. Finally Tim came in and took his seat. He slumped over as well, resting his head on his hand,

"School's got you in the dumps too?" Tori asked,

"Yeah. Term paper for an English seminar class,"

"What about it?"

"I have no freaking clue what to write about…on top of that I only read half the book and it's due on Wednesday,"

"I have that dissection lab due on Friday that I am not comfortable doing and if I don't do it I fail the class,"

"Usually professors are understanding about that, why not this time?" Tori made a face,

"I might have refused to do the last one as well…I think I pushed to hard,"

"I don't really know what to say. No one knows you're a Talon and no one actually knows what happened to you with Mac…there's no way out for you,"

"Don't remind me," Tori said, slumping further down and resting her head on her arms in total defeat. Stomping feet pounded into the room and the chair to Tori's left was yanked back aggressively,

"Hello Damian," Tim said mutely,

"Drake. Crowne," Damian muttered,

"What's got you in the dumps?" Tori asked, turning her head to face the almost twelve-year-old while remaining on her arms,

"I am nowhere in the dumps Crowne," Damian said, an angry expression on his face,

"Are you sure? Your face is more pinched than usual,"

"Shut the fuck up!" Damian growled,

"Two dollars to the swear jar Master Damian," Alfred said as he walked in with their food. Damian muttered harshly under his breath as he took his plate from Alfred and set it down before helping himself to the pot of mashed potatoes Tim had placed for Alfred. It was roasted chicken night, with the skin nice and crispy, no one in the family could resist that chicken. Tori wondered why Stephanie wasn't over for it, then she remembered that her friend was volunteering at the hospital with her mother. The vegetable was green beans, not Tori's favorite, but still delicious. Everyone started to serve themselves,

"Drake! Quit hogging the chicken!" Damian snapped,

"Enough out of you two!" Alfred ordered, "Pass the pots around. I must go help Master Dick with patrol coordination since it is only him and Miss Barbara out for tonight—,"

"—and Jason," Tori added as she scooped up some potatoes for her plate,

"—And Master Jason," Alfred amended, "I trust I can leave you three here without the occurrence of a catastrophe?"

"Of course Alfred," Tori said, "We're not five," she looked at Tim and Damian pointedly, she got glares in return. Alfred left and the three started to eat in silence, moping about their assignments on their own until Damian finally said something,

"I got an F on an assignment," Tori and Tim looked over at him, spoons and forks halfway to their mouths,

"What assignment?" Tori finally asked,

"It was an in class essay. I had been out the day we went over the section of the book due to an encounter with Killer Croc a few days before," he muttered, poking his potatoes around his plate. Tori winced, she remembered that night. She was still not allowed in the field but she'd been in the cave practicing when Dick and Jason raced in the cave Damian being carried between them. Four broken ribs, a sprained ankle and a ton of sewage water thrown up later, he was deemed stable,

"Who is your teacher?" Tori asked,

"Mrs. Durbyfiend," Tori and Tim groaned,

"She's the worst,"

"The absolute worst,"

"Gave me a C because I forgot to italicize the title of the book we read, once. ONCE!" Tori complained,

"She gave me a C because I forgot to give my ESSAY its own TITLE!" Tim cried, "Its own TITLE!"

"What essay needs its own title?" Damian asked,

"Well…actually a lot of them…but I was in sixth grade and thought it was outrageous,"

"Wait, since when did you two get Cs?" Damian asked, "You were straight A students all eight years you were at the Academy…even _you_ who _died_ senior year!" Tori tried not to wince at the mention of her own death, but it probably failed because Tim glared at Damian,

"No need to bring that up," he hissed, Damian just rolled his eyes,

"It's fine, and Damian, we got all As because that one F only counted for that assignment. In the whole picture that one F doesn't really matter,"

"That doesn't mean you just slack off though," Tim said, unhelpfully,

"Shut it Drake!" Damian snapped, using his spoon to fling potato at him. The glob hit her brother square in the face,

"Hey! You're_ so_ going to get it!" Tim yelled, grabbing a fist full of green beans from the tray and throwing them at the kid. Damian growled,

"Whoa you two stop this—," Tori started but stopped as Damian tried to throw another glob of potatoes, Tim had other plans because he slapped out at Damian's hand in an effort to deflect the attack. The potatoes sailed out of Damian's hand and straight in Tori's face. Everyone froze as Tori blinked through the mess of potatoes in her face. Both Tim and Damian had fists of food and were frozen mid-throw at each other, but they were staring at Tori, waiting to see how she would react. She tossed down her silverware cleared the potatoes from her face and stood up, her chair scrapping loudly on the wooden floor and ignoring the piece of potato-ed hair dangling in her face,

"Oh. It. Is. SO. On," she said dead serious. All chaos started again. Potatoes and chicken flew through the air and green beans were tossed like throwing darts. Chairs were toppled, the drapes were covered in grimy food sludge lines and Tim ended up just launching himself at Damian over the dining table. None of them knew why they were even continuing this food war, they just knew it was fun and made them forget about their problems…plus, they were able chaotic and childish for once in a long long time.

Unfortunately their war ended when Alfred walked through the doorway to find Tim and Damian rolling on the ground covered in food while Tori stood above them, holding the potato pot, tossing the mush at them yelling,

"Fight ingrates fight!" Chairs were on their sides and the potted plants were plastered in numerous amounts of food,

_"MY WORD!"_ Alfred cried. All three froze again, glancing at each other before looking over at Alfred who stared at the messy dining room he worked so hard to keep clean every day. The two boys scrambled to their feet and stood with their hands behind their back, dripping in mashed potatoes and buttery green bean goo while Tori shoved the pot behind her back and smiled sweetly at Alfred.

Everyone stood in silence for a while, which made Tori nervous. Alfred was just standing there, staring at the huge mess they'd just made…it would be quite impressive if it didn't mean they were about to be in SO much trouble. Slowly, very slowly Tori could see Alfred's face turn very very red. It didn't help that Titus nosed his way through the swinging door from the kitchen and started scarfing up all the floor food,

"All of you are going to clean this mess up, right all the chairs and send the drapery off to be dry-cleaned this instant before cleaning the room until it is spotless and then you will all be unburdening the plants I try so very hard to keep clean of food, weeds, and bugs," the butler said so calmly it was terrifying, "I will inform Master Bruce of this…catastrophe…immediately," he added, giving Tori a pointed look. With that, the butler turned on his heel and left the room. Everyone let out a sigh of relief,

"That was downright terrifying," Tim said finally, "I've only ever seen him like that twice…now three times in my life,"

"I've never seen him turn such a shade of red before," Damian admitted, from where he stood by Titus with wide eyes, holding the mutt by his collar to keep him from eating the food,

"I don't remember ever seeing him get completely red or mad like that before," Tori said, putting the pot back down on the table, "Do you really think he'll tell Bruce?"

"_Of course_ he'll tell Bruce," Tim said, "It's the only way we'll actually clean this mess up,"

"Believe it or not, we do not know how to domestically clean up after ourselves Crowne, and I don't believe you do either,"

"Okay somewhat true, I mean we do clean our rooms…so where do we start?" The three of them stared at the messy room before, in one voice, shouting,

_"ALFRED!"_ they all burst out laughing, even Damian, as soon as their echo died down.

By the time they cleaned up the dining room with Alfred's instruction and to his satisfaction, they all drifted upstairs to clean themselves off and get some well-deserved rest. After all, Tim had a paper to write, Tori had a dissection to mentally prepare herself for and Damian had to read the chapters for his essay re-write. Work may be tough and they may be almost adults, but a little bit of play and fun could go a long way.


	3. HALLOWEEN PARTY

A/N: It has come to my attention and in my opinion, that this story features a very very OCC Jason Todd. I apologize but I'm also not changing it. Enjoy nonetheless!

I had some quotes in there from Virgil, H. Jackson Brown, Jr. and from Lyly's Euphues.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"Come on Jason. It'll be fun!" Tori said into her cell phone as she paced around her new single dorm room. She and Stephanie had been sharing up until midterms rolled around. The lack of sleep deeply affected the little sleep they did get, in result they decided to each get singles. Tori had been unloading all her things in the new room all afternoon and it had been after dinner when Jenna told her about a halloween party being thrown at one of the penthouse apartments near campus. Apparently everyone was invited and you could bring guests.

Tori had almost finished decorating the walls of her room with photos and nicknacks from her old room in the Crowne penthouse as well as some new things she collected from her stay at Wayne Manor. She had also moved the bed up into the corner near the window that looked out into the city and made it with her sheets and comforter. Her teddy bear that's been with her since Max gave it to her two year-old self was still in one of the few boxes left to be unpacked. She hoped she would find it before she decided to go to sleep. She had decided to call Jason and tell him about the party while she did so, to make the time pass, which led to the conversation they were having presently,

"Why do you want to go to a Halloween party?" Jason asked, "You spend half of your days dressed as someone else,"

"Not really," Tori argued, "I'm dressing up as an alternate of myself in that instance. In the instance of a Halloween party, I'm dressing up as a vampire or a witch or Humphrey-dumpty, or something. Things and people that aren't me. Plus there will be food, candy, booze and fun couple costumes," Tori opened a box of clothes and started folding them on her newly made bed,

"So that's the reason you want me to come? So you and I can dress up as some duo themed costume?"

"Yup," Tori said brightly. There was silence on the other end, making Tori halt in her clothes folding, "Please Jason? I promise the costumes won't be stupid, I did mention there would be booze right?"

"Are you trying to bribe me through alcohol?" Jason asked incredulously, though there was a laugh in his voice,

"Well since you love it soooo much, I thought why not?" Tori said, rolling her eyes and shrugging,

"Do you think I'm an alcoholic?" Jason asked so seriously she had to stop what she was doing and adjust the phone to assure him she was just joking,

"No, I don't…why do _you_ think you are?"

"Well…no. I mean I drank a lot after I came back from being dead and before you came back…I've cut back a lot since,"

"Then why would you ask that?"

"Well you _were_ trying to bribe me through consumption," Tori rolled her eyes and shook her head,

"So, will you come? I'll include you in the costume decision. We have a few days before the party so we can make everything perfect,"

"Fine. I get veto power though. I'm not going as a Ken Barbie doll dude thing," he growled into the phone,

"Great! Love you Babe!" Tori said, smiling widely, "Bye!" with that she hung up and jumped off her bed. She had three hours before most of the shops would be closed, and even that's pushing it. She had to come up with the perfect costumes for her and Jason.

* * *

"Okay, I have three options for costumes," Tori told Jason, who sat in the chair for her desk. He was trying to peek around Tori at the costumes she had laid out on her bed. It was the night of the party and they really had to pick the costume soon,

"What are they,"

"Well, first I kind of want to explain my thought process," Tori said,

"You really don't need to do that. I'm just going to spend time with you, I couldn't care less what the costumes were,"

"Aw! That's sweet," Tori said, "I know you're just going for the candy too, but I still love you," she added with a smile. She gave him a quick peck before standing again,

"At first I was going to do a Bonnie and Clyde costume, but then I thought it would be too cliche and most couples would do that," Tori said, "I bought the costumes anyway though," she pointed at the covered pile of clothes on the far left,

"These are returnable right?" Jason asked,

"Well we can keep them for next year," Tori said waving her hand absentmindedly at costumes,

"You say that like we'll dress up every year," Jason said, leaning his head back and thunking it on the desk,

"I thought you said you couldn't care less what we wear!" Tori said,

"I do don't care. I'm doing this for you,"

"You know what. We don't have to go if you don't want to. We can just stay here, eat Steph's candy stash that I managed to steal when we moved rooms and watch some good horror movies," Jason looked up at her before shaking his head,

"No. We're going to the party. You put a lot of thought into these costumes and I don't want to ruin your fun," Tori smiled at him, though she still felt a little bad because she was forcing him to go to the party with her. She continued her explanation nonetheless,

"My second idea was Alice and the Mad Hatter…but then I decided no because Gotham already has a Mad Hatter and dressing up as Alice would be a really bad idea. So then I thought why not Alice and the White Rabbit…but then realized you would not want to wear a giant bunny suit with a clock hanging around your neck so I trashed that idea. The real second idea is Aphrodite and Ares. Goddess of love and god of war. Doesn't that sound good? They were together in myths and they worked well together, they were powerful together. They caused empires and kingdoms to rise and fall; unite and conquer,"

"Love and war go hand in hand. Men and women go to war for their loved ones not just their country, and as the saying goes, 'All's fair in love and war,'" Jason said nodding in agreement, "But I'm not wearing a toga," Tori rolled her eyes before looking at him seriously,

"I'd be wearing a dressy toga too," Jason looked like he was going to reconsider for a split second before shaking his head,

"I'm not wearing a toga," he said firmly, causing Tori to laugh again,

"Not worth it? Are you sure?," she had to ask, Jason just mini-glared her, "Okay fine! The third idea I had was…Red Riding Hood and the Wolf!" Tori said, revealing the far right costume,

"Didn't the Wolf eat her grandmother?"

"Welll, yes he did. But then Red Riding Hood saved her by filling the Wolf's stomach with rocks after cutting him open to get her out. Riding Hood and her grandmother managed to get on a boat and row away. When the Wolf tried to swim after them he sank to the bottom because of the rocks,"

"So…I'd be the Wolf, who Red Riding Hood indirectly kills?" Jason clarified. Tori frowned,

"Well that's just one version of the story, in some other stories of Red Riding Hood and the one that inspired me, it was her father who was the Wolf and he infected her lover. They killed her dad and sunk him in a lake by filling him with rocks so no one would ever find him. Instead of hating her lover or fearing him she ran away with him and they lived happily ever after,"

"I guess they both had cycles of their own they had to deal with," Jason said smirking while Tori blushed and glared at him,

"I was trying to make the story romantic and you ruined it," she said crossing her arms,

"I can see the romantic bit as the two of them running away together but he did kill her father didn't he?"

"Actually it was her. With a silver dagger," Tori said, nodding to her own dagger that was lying on the desk, "she'd rather kill her own father than live without the man that she loved,"

"Love conquers all," Jason said simply, "Even blood,"

"Yes," Tori replied just as simply, "But in the story it's also more than that. Her father changed the man she loved; he would become a wolf every full moon because of her father, yet her feelings for him didn't change. No matter who he was or what he became, she would love him unyieldingly," Jason stood suddenly and pulled her in for a long and hard kiss, leaving her stunned and breathless before she smiled at him as he retook his seat. He looked very pleased with himself and almost like he was actually enjoying this more, "I love all these ideas. But it's really your pick,"

"I think I'd rather go with Red Riding hood," Jason said, moving to pick up the wolf ears he'd have to wear, "because while it's a Grimm Fairy tale, its adaptions made room for love to be a powerful message of the tale. In a messed up way, but still an important one,"

"Love is messed up, but still very important because sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye," Tori said smiling up at Jason, while picking up her white dress and red cloak. She did love cloaks afterall. Quickly stripping and pulling the dress on she turned to Jason, "Help button me up?" she asked.

Many would question why Tori loved Jason as fiercely as she did, they were both young. Too young by many accounts to love each other forever. But they understood each other. They grew up together, not side by side, but on paralleled paths that intertwined despite all odds, two sides of the same coin. Love was passion and dedication which both drove them in life. Some might question Tori's choices by how sudden she made them or Jason's sanity because of what he's done in the past. But to Tori, Jason's past does not define him and her decisions are her's to make. If Tori chose to love Jason, then she would love him for as long as that choice felt right. Tori did not know what Jason felt for her, but she could see the look in his eyes when they locked with hers', their love was something special. Their love would cross even the toughest and most invisible barriers. Nothing stood in their way.

After they were all set, wolf ears, fake fur covered leather vest on and tail in place; cloak fastened tightly and hood up with a red ribbon-ed candy filled basket they walked arm in arm to the Halloween party.


	4. DANGEROUS NIGHTS

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Thumping found its way through Tori's subconscious. Groaning she squeezed her eyes shut tighter and turned over. The sound only intensified. Groaning louder Tori slowly opened her eyes and blinked into the darkness, trying to figure out where she was. She stared around dumbly into the pitch black of a very unfamiliar room before realizing that she was in Jason's safe house. Tori had decided to crash at Jason's place even though he was on patrol. Usually she wouldn't, but they had had a date that night and got back very late. Too late to get to her dorm and she was too tired, she had not been sleeping well. Plus her dorm room was small, cramped and she was stuck with a small twin bed not the nice and comfy king sized bed Jason had. His place won and Tori had curled up and fallen asleep faster than it took for Jason to get ready for patrol.

The loud banging vibrated through the room again, annoying Tori. She had just woken up form one of the best night's sleep she's had in a long time. Groggily she stumbled out of the bed, kicking sheets that tried to tangle up her legs and stomped over to the nearest wall, resting herself against it she hazardously slapped the wall trying to find the light switch all while the banging intensified,

"Who the bloody hell is banging on a warehouse door at four in the morning?" Tori spat out too herself…her eyes widened…who would be banging on a warehouse door at four in the morning? Finally finding the light switch and smacking her hands over her eyes as the light blinded her she stumbled through the make-shift living room towards the 'front' door (really the second level of the warehouse that served as Jason's home). She stubbed her toe twice and was briefly thankful for the Electrum that prevented her from feeling pain before finally making it to the door. Tori knew she should be more suspicious and at least have a weapon with her, but she was bloody tired and knew she couldn't die. The worst was that it was a cop, or maybe someone from Jason's past, but Tori figured she could take them. Taking a deep breath she opened the door, ready for anything.

Jason stood there, leaning against the room frame with a lazy expression on his face. Tori blinked in shock and surprise at him. He should still be on patrol, what is he doing here? Tori opened her mouth to ask the question but he spoke before she could,

"Finally. Took you forever to get to the damn door," he said, though his words sounded slurred and before Tori could react, he slumped forwards. His full weight coming down on Tori,

"Jason—_ack!"_ She cried, barely catching him as they both hit the floor. Panic setting in she quickly flipped him over and patted his face, as well as peeled back his eyelids trying to see if they reacted to the light. He didn't wake up but his pupils reacted the way they should, that was a good sign. Tori then patted him down trying to find the cause of his collapse, all the while trying not to overly panic. She had never really had to take care of one of the family members when they returned from patrol like this. That was Alfred's job, he was the family doctor along with Leslie Thompkins and they were the ones everyone turned to for medical help. What was Jason thinking coming _here_ instead of the Batcave,

"Jason you idiot," Tori muttered to herself as she kept patting him down until she finally found a sticky wet mess of blood pooling around his side. Swallowing she pulled of his jacket before looking at his kevlar vest with the red bat insignia on it, knowing that she wouldn't be able to see the wound without getting it off, "Okay Jay, this may be uncomfortable and hurt you, but it must be done," Tori whispered into his ear as she stood and moved to behind his head before pulling him up by the underarms and dragging him across the floor.

Blood smeared the flooring of the warehouse as she did so, which was worrying and annoying since she would have to_ clean_ that freaking flooring before looking down at herself to see a bit of blood in her braided hair and some on her shirt,

"Great, this is just great. I look like Carrie…or a minor version of her," she muttered as she lugged Jason up onto the couch, earning a muffled groan and a half-hearted cough, "I know, I know, I'm sorry," Tori said as she grabbed her dagger from the coffee table and started to cut away the kevlar. Sure, he'd have to go to Alfred—who he should have gone to in the first place!—to get it sewed back up, but it was the only way Tori could help him.

She then grabbed one of the many first aid kits Jason kept at the warehouse and a wet cloth from the kitchen before kneeling by Jason's side again. The wound's bleeding had died down a bit, but it was still nasty looking. It was shallow, but long and ridged that swept along the curve of his hip almost to his belly button. Stifling her brief observation on how cute his belly button was she quickly washed the cut first with water, then with alcohol…which earned a slight cry of pain from Jason…though he didn't wake. Tori knew he was trying to stay asleep so that the bleeding would slow and because it was just the best thing to do when injured, but it was hard, especially when people poked and prodded you,

"Shh, Jay, you're fine. I've got you," Tori said, taking a moment to smooth down his rain drenched hair. Tori had no idea where he had come from or how rainy it had been. He should have called for help…she and Jason were going to have words in the morning.

Tori turned back to fixing up the wound. She threaded a surgical needle and moved to start her stitching, only to stop…one thing preventing her form continuing…the Lab. She'd been cut open like this and then sewed back together like a rag doll…Tori shook her head, this wasn't about _her_, this was about her _boyfriend_ who was _bleeding_ and hurt and in need of her help,

"—and who's bleeding all over our sofa," Tori muttered to herself, briefly—yet again—, pleased at using the royal 'our' and 'we.' It's the best thing and feeling when you can refer to furniture as both of the couple members things. Shaking her head again Tori got to sewing. It took thirty stitches total to seal the wound completely. Tori then wiped it down with warm water and alcohol again before wrapping it tightly with a patch of cotton cloth and an ace bandage. Getting the bandage around his lower torso was hard, but once complete, he looked cleaner and better than before, Alfred would be proud. With the biggest problem solved Tori then checked him over for any other injuries and other than a sprained wrist, there seemed to be nothing else wrong except that Jason was shivering. Being out in the rain probably did more damage than good. Huffing and hoisting Jason up again she shuffled with him over to the bed and placed him on it, careful of his stitches before pulling the blankets up to his chin and placing a kiss on his forehead. Tori then pulled a poofy sofa chair by the bed and collapsed in it. She fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

* * *

Sunlight seared Tori's eyelids, but that wasn't what woke her. Someone's hand was grabbing hold of her's. Starting awake Tori blinked down at Jason who looked up at her with a crinkled nose,

"Sorry," he said,

"Sorry? You're _sorry?_ You scared me half to death Jason! I don't know shit about medical attention! Why didn't you go to Alfred?" Tori demanded, she didn't' mean to yell, but she had been worried and frustrated and feared that she'd done a bad job,

"You did a fine job Tori," Jason said, gingerly sitting up and glancing at his side, "Fifty-three," he said, grazing the wound with his pointer finger. A wound that now joined fifty-two other scars scattered over his body like a map of misfortune and a story of bravery. He winced at his own touch,

"Do you need something for the pain?" Tori asked, immediately worried again,

"Yes please,"

"Oh, _please_ is it? Why is it when you're wounded you have better manners than when you're not?" Jason smiled thinly,

"Because, I was the one that worried you," he said, taking hold of her hand as she gave him the pill. He played with her fingers as they sat in silence for a moment or two, "I didn't go to Alfred, because I was too far away. I was closer to here,"

"How close?" Tori asked, raising an eyebrow,

"…eighteen blocks," Tori's mouth dropped,

"That is not close! Not when you are _injured_ and when it's _raining!"_ Tori said, "Why didn't you call for help?" Jason frowned, "you know why," Tori could feel her expression turn thunderous,

"Your pride will get you killed again one day," Tori said, ignoring the angry look she got, "They're your _family_ Jason. They are there for you whether you like it or not and you need to learn to like it. One day you'll be hurt and I may not be there for you, or Kori and Roy. And I don't want to lose you like that," Jason frowned,

"It's not that easy," he said, "I've done plenty of things they're not proud of. A lot of them directed at my family," Tori smiled dryly,

"They'll have to learn to get over that, they're stuck with you," she said, "Trust me. They'll help despite what you've done in the past, you're their brother and you're Bruce's son. None of them would turn their back on you," she placed a hand on his cheek before frowning and moving her hand to his forehead, "I think you have a fever," she stated. Jason groaned, before coughing and leaning his head against her chest,

"My head is pounding…ung…I feel like shit," Tori chuckled before wrapping her arms around him and running a hand through his still slightly damp locks,

"Oh I see how it is. You get hurt, completely ignore the fact that you can go to the Batcave and wake me up at ass o'clock in the morning just so I can take care of you?" Jason just gave another moan, causing Tori to roll her eyes, "I'll make some soup, and then we can just cuddle here and watch movies. How does that sound?" she asked,

"It sounds like heaven," Jason said, pulling her closer before rolling over and yanking her down next to him,

"Careful of your stitches! I worked damn hard on them!" Tori scolded, though her heart wasn't really into the reprimanding part of it. She instead just burrowed closer to Jason and leaned her head on his shoulder, and waited for him to start snoring again with a smile.


	5. KNOWING

A/N: Here are the reactions and thoughts of four of Tori's family and friends when they find out Tori's alive!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

**TIM**

Tim remembered the day very clearly. To be honest, it had been a very boring day. There had been nothing to do, his homework had been done and he had no tests the next day. I was content to just sitting on the couch and watching TV for the rest of the evening before stuffing himself with Alfred's cooking. Sundays were never that eventful…that was until Stephanie called. The trill of his cell phone made him jerk up with a start before he pawed around the couch trying to find the damn thing. Once he did he answered to here a gibberish tirade from Stephanie. He briefly wondered if she was mad at him for a split second before he decided to ask her to speak English,

"Stephanie, slow down. What's wrong?" he asked, she took a giant breath on the other end before saying whatever she'd said before in one long jumbled sentence,

"Tori'sAlive!She'sactuallyaliveWeneedtogonow!" Tim made a face, wondering if he had heard right,

"What?" he asked again,

"Tori is alive Tim! ALIVE," she said. Tim was silent for a moment, processing what she had just said. He was stunned, unsure of how to react. Silently he felt angry, and mad that Steph would even try and joke about his sister's death only a year after it had happened…part of him wondered if it was true,

"Tim. I know this is hard to believe, but Tori. Is. Alive. Turn on the news! Do it! Hurry!" Stephanie sounded like she was crying on the other end. Tim didn't really remember grabbing the remote and changing the channel. He only remembered seeing Vicki Vale on the television and Tori's picture on the screen. He didn't comprehend the words, it was obvious what she was saying…his sister was alive! Actually alive! An indescribable feeling soared through his very being and he was up on his feet before he could fully think. He leapt over the back of the couch, and jumped into his sneakers while grabbing his coat and yanking it on. As he ran down the stairs of the second floor to the first he pulled up another article on Tori's miraculous return. He needed to see her. He needed to tell her and talk to her and hug her because he never got the chance to before.

* * *

**DICK**

"Barb, I'm sorry I forgot the mangoes. I'm sure your fish tacos will be great without the mango salsa," Dick said as he paced up and down before the front door. His girlfriend was pissed that he forgot the most crucial ingredient to her famous fish taco dish that she was bringing to a Precinct fund raiser the next evening. For some reason she didn't think to go out herself now and get them, "Barbara, why don't you get them tomorrow?" Dick stopped in his pacing to listen to her response with a grimace only to nearly be mowed over by Tim. He jumped out of the way and grabbed his brother by the hood before he could grab the front door's handle,

"Whoa there Speedy Gonzales. Barb, I'll call you back I have a rascal to deal with," Dick said before hanging up, "Thanks for the escape Timbo…also, what's with the hurry and where are you going? It's almost dinner time," Tim looked absolutely frantic and was trying to pry Dick's hands off his hood. It was a pointless attempt, trapeze artists have grips of steel,

"Tim, use your words," he said, earning a brief distracted glare,

"She's alive," was all he said, still tugging at his hood. Dick raised an eyebrow,

"Who—?"

"Tori! She's alive! There was—," Dick felt a flash of sympathy before giving his brother a look,

"Tim…" he started,

"No! Dick. She really is alive! It's on the news! Look!" Tim said shoving his phone in his hands. Dick decided to humor him and glanced down at the phone only to gasp in shock and look closer at the legit and very recent article about Tori's return. It wasn't possible. His only thought was of his little brother's best friend who was actually his sister, who was always there with the batfamily and who helped coordinate communications with Barbara when he was Batman. Of Tori who took on everything with a smile on her face and determination in her gaze and who leapt off the trapeze platform like she had been born to fly.

There was a picture, a crisp clear one from outside the police precinct definitely by one of the billion paparazzi that were probably swarming the area. It was her, there was no doubt. The long dark brown hair and the blue blue eyes and her slight build…but she was different all the same. Dick was good at reading people and Tori was different. There was no confidence in her posture like there once had been when she stood before a paparazzi swarm. There was a look of dread in her too jaded eyes, as if she could tell nothing good was going to come from returning to Gotham, as if there was no hope inside her gaze at all. Her posture and eyes and slightly hunched shoulders told a different story than the one Tim was seeing. What happened to her? Dick wondered as he handed the phone back to Tim. He was happy, elated to have her back and alive and safe…but he couldn't help flashing back to Jason's return and the storm that followed. He worried and wondered if perhaps that might happen again,

"Go get her Timbo. I need to tell Barbara," he said with a smile, which Tim returned before dashing out the door. Dick watched after him with a small frown. He was exceedingly happy that another member of their friends/family was alive...but what repercussions would come from this other seemingly resurrection.

* * *

**MAUD**

Maud received the call while editing one of the fashion articles her magazine was going to post in the next issue. Her assistant was lurking about and her coffee was in her hand when the phone rang. With perfectly manicured nails she reached for the phone and picked up her coffee with the other hand,

"Hello?" she said curtly. She listened. Her face never changing her expression never wavering as she heard the news. Then she dropped her mug and it shattered on the carpeted floor, spilling its contents everywhere. Her assistant cried out and hurried to her side,

"Mrs. Crowne! Are you alright? Did it spill on you? I'll get—,"

"Get out," Maud said, her assistant stared at her dumbfounded,

"Wha—?"

"GET OUT!" Maud yelled, her voice cracking as she picked up the nearest object—a paper weight in the shape of a swan—standing and pivoting on her feet, she threw it at the assistant, who's name she couldn't remember at the moment. The woman ducked with a yelp,

"I SAID GET. OUT!" she screamed at the woman's retreating form. Maud turned back and sat at her mahogany wooden desk and stared out at her large and pristine—except for her now coffee stained rug—office, now mercifully silent and empty. With shaking hands and trembling fingers she, Maud, the woman who showed no emotion at all, who never yelled unless it was because of someone else's own stupidity, shook as she unlocked a single drawer at the bottom of her desk. She pulled it open and pulled out the one and only photo of her firstborn daughter to survive the purging of the dead.

Maud held the framed picture in her arms, as if she were holding her baby again, as if she were already in her arms—as if she had never left. She traced the shape of her daughter's face and the ringlets of hair that fell to the middle of her back, she always wore her hair long, even as a child. Ali preferred her hair a little past shoulder length while the boys didn't care at all what their hair looked like. They got that from Max, no matter if they denied it. They aped him without knowing it. Some would call Maud an ice queen. A cold hearted woman who cared for little else other than money and power. But it was a false front, a fake porcelain mask. Maud loved her children more than anything, more than her own life. And if, to keep them safe and untouched by the corrupted elite society she grew up in she had to keep her distance…she would keep that mask on for as long as she lived. But now, as she held the picture of her oldest daughter, her mask cracked, and she sobbed. Maud sobbed even as she picked up the phone and dialed a number she knew by heart,

"She's alive Max," she sobbed into the phone, "Tori's alive…my baby is alive."

* * *

**JASON**

He didn't know until two days after she had come back. He had been away. On a mission with Kori and Roy. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he was always one step behind everyone else with the news. He didn't hear about her 'death' until a day after she'd been pronounced dead. He'd been away for that as well. Did that make him a horrible person—probably. But it was like fate told him to wait before hearing important things and believing in things like that was dangerous for Jason…he didn't believe in things like fate. Even if it was fate that decreed him to be murdered by the Joker and even if it was fate that resurrected him and even if it was fate that Talia decided to toss him in a Lazarus Pit…he refused to believe that things were predestined.

But now? As he stood in his kitchen of his ratty apartment—he needed to get a better Gotham safe house—staring at the small TV screen with Tori's, his Toria's, face splattered all over nearly every news channel…maybe it was time for him to become a believer. Or maybe not. Fate had a way of twisting things. No one could predict the after effects the Pit had on a resurrected person. The nightmares as clear as the world before him about his death. His resurrection, the process of digging himself out of his own grave. He did not sign up for that, he would have gladly stayed a glorified zombie, dead to the world because he had no memory, just blurred jumbled bits. But after the Pit, he remembered everything. He remembered his time on the streets wandering until Talia's people found him. He remembered things through his dreams that made him sick upon waking. Fate designed that…and fate would screw him over somehow for bringing her back.

But also, he never felt more alive in the past year than he did in that moment. He felt a relief so powerful that he nearly lost his footing when he saw the news channel, he felt a swirl of emotions that he couldn't describe. He was happy, so unpredictably happy that Tori was back in Gotham. That she was alive and living and breathing and talking and walking. She was thirty blocks away, in a penthouse with her family or perhaps Tim had finally gotten the balls to tell her he's his sister and he's over there right now eating dinner with them. He felt terrible and angry because he hadn't known until just that moment. Did she think he moved on? Had she? Jason felt devastated, because if she was not dead…then that meant she'd been resurrected somehow. Or something along those lines. Would she have those nightmares now? Would she wake screaming in the middle of the night with no one to turn to or understand? Would he be able to help? Would he be the one to understand her?

Fate knocked right on that door, ready to change this wondrous miracle into something horrible and pulling Jason from the turmoil of his thoughts as well as reminding him that something would ruin everything. Something always did. Taking a deep breath he opened to door to find, to his shock, Barbara Gordon. She stood in the door's threshold with a grim look on her face,

"Nice legs, Barbie," he said in way of greeting,

"Eat any brains today Zombie?" She rebutted . Jason glared,

"What are you doing here?" he demanded crossing his arms,

"I'm here about Tori," she said, pushing past him and into the run down apartment, "I don't know how to tell you—,"

"—she's alive," he interrupted, "I know,"

"You do?" she asked,

"Yes…I-I found out a few minutes ago,"

"And how do you feel?" she asked, smiling and raising an eyebrow at him,

"Why do you think I feel anything?" he snapped. A total lie, he felt every emotion at once, so many that there wasn't a name for its combined formation,

"Because you love her," she said simply,

"You take this Oracle stuff way to seriously," he said, trying not to stutter out of shock at her guessed truth,

"Don't lie. I see the way you looked at her," she said, sitting down on the bar stool to the island countertop, "but there's something you need to know," there it was. That twist of fate, something that ruined everything,

"What?" Jason asked as he moved to get a beer out of the fridge…he's been trying to cut back…but the day was getting to him,

"She has no memory," Jason froze, his hand wrapped around the neck of the bottle, still in the fridge, the cold air hissing in his face,

"Of the year she's been dead?" he asked to clarify as he stepped back and popped off the lid,

"No. She has no memory of her life," Barbara said, nothing but sympathy in her expression. Jason didn't say anything for a moment,

"No memory. Nothing at all?" she shook her head, "How do you know?"

"Tim went to see her," Jason bit back a curse and a grimace, Tim would not lie about something like that,

"I want to see her," he said after another moment of silence, "I need to see her,"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Barbara said, getting up and putting a hand on his shoulder, which he shook off, "She doesn't remember any of us. She doesn't remember Peter or Tim or Stephanie or her own family. She is terrified right now, and a man popping up out of nowhere saying that he's her boyfriend…she doesn't need that. In fact it could make things worse," Jason drew away from the countertop,

"You mean if I try to get her to remember…if I press for her to remember all of us and me, she'll never remember anything at all?"

"It's a possibility and something I don't think we should risk. The mind is delicate. I think we both know that," Barbara said, glancing down at her toes, a hand resting on her stomach while Jason unintentionally moved a hand to his side as if he could still feel the metal cutting into his skin and cracking his bones,

"I get it," he said roughly, "I won't see her. I'll just wait until her memories come back,"

"That's just the thing…her past might come back easily…but the present, specifically the year before she was supposedly killed and the year that she was assumed dead, is a whole other story," Barbara said, "There's a chance…she may…not ever remember those years," Jason felt a tidal wave of emotion slam against his chest and mind. He could feel it peak. It was only a matter of time. His hands had curled into fists and he couldn't stop the stinging feeling around his eyes. He didn't say anything, he couldn't. Jason just stood where he was silent, with Barbara watching him with something like empathy in her gaze,

"I'm sorry Jason," she said, "There is a chance she'll remember but—,"

"—Don't get my hopes up. I got it," he said gruffly. Barbara nodded,

"I'll leave you alone now," she said, moving to leave. Jason stayed where he was, even when he heard the door close. Even when her footsteps clomped down the stairs and even when he couldn't hear any sounds indicating that she was still within the buildings. He just stood there letting his emotions howl silently and erratically until he couldn't take it anymore. With a ferocious yell, thunderous and raw he swept his hand out, grabbing the still full beer bottle before lobbing it against the wall next to the TV. It shattered too pieces and the frothy liquid seeped down the peeling wallpaper. Jason then thundered over to the TV and tore it from the wall before throwing it against the wall opposite to it.

Jason stood there, breathing raggedly, hands in fists unsure what to do with himself because there was nothing. he. could. do. His Toria may never remember him…but he'd be damned if he didn't try to get her to want to remember.


	6. IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly," Tori sang to herself as she folded the sides of wrapping paper and taping them in place, "'Tis the season to be jolly," she trilled as she put a fanciful bow on the top before leaning back on her hands to look at her work of art with pride. All presents wrapped and ready to go under the Christmas tree. One for each person. One for Alfred, one for Bruce, one for Barbara, one for Dick, one for Tim, one for Damian, one for Stephanie, one for Liam, one for Ali, one for Cameron and one for Jason. Everyone who lived at the Wayne Manor she would have to place under their tree later. Jason's, on the other hand, would go under the small and pine needle dwindling tree he had at his safe house.

His safe house, where Tori was at the moment since everyone in the Wayne household were keen on learning what they got early and used very devious means to gain that knowledge, was lacking in the Christmas spirit. Tori knew that it was because in the past, he never really stayed in Gotham much, but since Tori returned and they had gotten back together after their forced separation, he'd been staying more and more. Even so, old habits die hard. The sound of the door handle jerking, made Tori's ear twitch a second before the door actually opened,

"Jason!" she exclaimed happily, jumping up to give him a hug,

"Hey," he cried, surprised yet not disappointed, "What are you doing here? Better question, how are you here. The doors were locked,"

"Window," was all Tori said, nodding her head to the still opened window/doorway, "weren't you the one to say if the door wasn't open to try the window?" she added, smiling sweetly,

"Ah, using my own words against me," he said, giving her a kiss before dropping his bags on the floor and moving to where the open window was, "Why didn't you close it? It's freezing in here. Plus the heater's on, isn't that like bad for the environment or something?"

"It is bad for the environment," Tori stated with a frown, "But it's the only way I could sort of feel the season and the snow without turning into a semi-icicle or a full on icicle," she moved over to where he stood and scooped up some snow from the sill up into her hand before shaking it off as her fingers started to stiffen,

"I see," Jason said, taking her hand and rubbing it between his to warm it, "You still haven't told me why you broke in,"

"I entered your safe house so I could wrap presents in peace," she replied, nodding over to where the pile of newly wrapped presents were,

"It's that time of year," Jason agreed, "So are they all going under the giant tree at the Manor?"

"Well, the one's for them are and I'm sending the others to Ali and Cameron…I wish I could visit but I'm still a little worried to stay with them after what happened last time. Plus Cameron doesn't know I'm a Talon, he'd know the difference if I came,"

"You should tell him," Jason said, moving over to inspect the gifts, "I mean, he's your brother. He should accept you even if you're a regenerative assassin,"

"Maybe he would accept me if a regenerative assassin hadn't killed his parents," Tori muttered,

"Don't think like that. Besides that was a year ago,"

"You say that like it's easy to get over,"

"Sorry, I only mourned my mom's death. My dad's? Not so much. It was easier to get over it," Tori pursed her lips before leaping up and snatching the present Jason had picked up out of his hands,

"Not this one!" she cried,

"Why? Is it special?" Jason asked with a smirk,

"It's your's," Tori said, hugging it close, "and it's going under your tree, where it's going to stay and _not_ be peeked at!" Jason whipped his head around in shock,

"I have a tree?"

"Yeah, it's that little one over there," Tori said pointing,

"What? How long has that been there?"

"You didn't put it there?" Tori asked confused,

"No!…wait…actually—hmm, I think I put it there last year…" Jason muttered rubbing the back of his head in thought. Tori rolled her eyes and placed the present under the dying tree and hurried to the kitchen. Now she knew why it looked like Charlie Brown's tree,

"Where are you going?" Jason called,

"To save your dying tree!" Tori replied, "And NO peeking!" she called louder than before so he would_ hear_ her. Tori stood by the sink filling a container full of water with her head tilted to the side. Tim often remarked she looked like Titus when she did that. Tori responded by pushing him into the river they were hiking by,

"I can hear you shaking it!" she called,

"No you can't!" Tori laughed and shook her head before dashing over to the living room, "Aha! Caught in the act!" she cried triumphantly. Jason glare at her from where he stood with his present in hand. Tori calmly poured the water into the basin which the dying tree was set in before facing her boyfriend and holding out her hand,

"Give me the present," she said, very seriously,

"No,"

"Jason,"

"Tori,"

"Give. Me. The. Present." Tori said very deliberately,

"You're going to have to catch me," Jason said, taking a step back with a grin. Tori, with an even bigger smirk, leapt forward using her superior speed to snatch the present out of his hands and place it under the tree behind her,

"Oh…This. Means. War!" Jason cried as soon as he realized the present wasn't in his hand anymore,

"Wait, what?" Tori cried as he took a step toward her, "Jason it doesn't have to come to this—agh!" she cried as he tried to grab her. With a giggle she dashed away from him as he chased her through the pile to gifts, "You don't need to do this. It's just a present! I was trying to keep with the holiday spirit!" Tori cried, pleading with Jason while trying not to laugh, which was hard because Jason had a stupid grin on his face too. Tori ran behind the couch and kept dashing right or left as Jason tried to get around to grab her,

"No, you won't get me!" she laughed, "Not this way either!" she was laughing uncontrollably as she held up her hands as she dashed either way to fend of Jason, who was clearly getting fed up with the chase. He finally let out roar and leapt onto the sofa and grabbed her from where she was behind it. Tori let out a screech as he lifted her up and over the back of the sofa and onto his lap where he tickled her mercilessly,

"Ah!….gah!…stop! Hahaha! Stop!….please! Haha! Mercy! Hahaha! Mercy I said mercy!" she gasped when she managed to get air,

"Ha! The beast is victorious!" Jason cried, raising his arms to the air in victory. Tori crossed her arms and glared at him, "Love you!" he said, giving her a kiss. Tori didn't say anything, just glared at him,

"Oh no. We have a grinch don't we. Did we switch roles? I thought I was supposed to be the one who had no Christmas spirit," Tori still didn't say anything, "I think this grinch needs another tickling," he said, wiggling his fingers at her,

"No! No!," Tori cried trying to squirm from his embrace,

"Say you love me,"

"No!" Tori growled, sticking her tongue out at him,

"Say it!"

"Never!"

"Tickles commencing in five….four….three…two—,"

"I love you!" Tori cried, "I love you, I swear I do!" Tori exclaimed, burrowing her head onto his shoulder,

"I don't believe you. My heart is hurt," Jason moaned. Tori rolled her eyes,

"I do love you," she said,

"I'm still unconvinced," he said, smirking at her. Tori smirked back before pushing her hands on his chest and leaning over to give him a long and passionate kiss. He immediately kissed back, his hands skimming her sides under her oversized knit sweater as he pulled her closer to him. Tori finally pulled back, a bit out of breath with a hand flat on his chest,

"How about now?" she asked,

"I'm convinced," he said with a smile, pulling her down fully for another long and breathtaking kiss before pulling away to say, "Merry Christmas Tori," Tori smiled back before placing her head on his chest to look at the small and almost needless pine tree with the chill of the Gotham snowy night drifting through the dimly lit warehouse,

"Merry Christmas Jason."


	7. SKIING

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"I hate that I have to bundle up more than you guys have to," Tori muttered as she shoved another sock over her third pair of socks. The Wayne family, minus Alfred, were being dragged on a snowy business trip Tori included. While she lived with Bruce, she was not formally adopted and therefore not part of his family or used his name. Tori was fine with that, she was a-okay with just being fostered by Bruce or a ward or whatever the hell she was—because at the moment she actually had no clue—,

"Well, you're a Talon, you don't do well in the cold and you love skiing, you can't have it both ways," Tim said, shoving his foot in his ski boot,

"Besides, it's not like anyone will notice you're wearing four pairs of socks and three pairs of hand and toe warmers in your gloves and boots," Dick said brightly, putting on his navy blue helmet,

"I feel like an Oompa Loompa," Tori grumbled, shoving her arm through the sleeve of her fleece,

"You're wearing a _parka!"_ Tim pointed out, "And _snow-pants!"_

"That means nothing," Tori said, side-glaring him, "I still feel like I'm a super-sized hippo,"

"You don't have to come with us,"

"And stay in the hotel room by myself all day? Are you kidding me?"

"Bruce is,"

"No, he's working all day, which I think defeats the purpose of having a business trip someplace where you can ski,"

"He's coming out after lunch," Dick assured her,

"He actually _skis?" _

"Well…not as much as he used to," Dick said with a shrug, "Dami! How's it going with those ski boots,"

"These contraptions are medieval torture devices!" came the growled reply,

"I'll take that as horribly," Dick muttered to himself, "I'll help you!" he called, moving past Tim and Tori,

"Has Damian ever gone skiing?" Tori asked her brother,

"Not that I know of," Tim replied, "Dick and I have gone every year this stupid business trip has happened. But that was before Damian lived with us…I think they skipped a few years since they haven't had a new client in a while,"

"Well this will be interesting," Tori said with a smirk.

* * *

"Okay, so remember to keep the straps over your wrists and to turn every once in a while. You don't want to just bomb down the mountainside like a rocket," Dick told Damian as they stood at the top of their first run. It was a green, since they had a beginner with them—said beginner hated being referred to as 'beginner'—,

"I _know_ Grayson you told me ten times already!" Damian snapped,

"He's just making sure you don't go flying off the side Demon," Tim retorted,

"I think I'm intelligent enough to know not to do that,"

"Well, there's also the other skiers and snowboarders to worry about," Tori stated, "They can cut you off and make you run right over the edge," she made a whooshing sound and a puffing noise to further elaborate her point,

"Quit scaring him you two," Dick said, shooting them a glare,

"What! We're just teaching him the dangers of skiing," Tori said, in her most innocent voice,

"I'm not scared!" Damian snapped, glowering at her, "It'll take more than a purple puff ball to scare me," Tori glared at Damian,

"We are currently all puff balls," Dick said, trying to mediate the arguing,

"Well then, if you aren't scared, let's go," Tori said,

"Whoa there. We can't leave yet, we have to wait for the others," Tori and Tim groaned. They had to wait for Bruce's partners and clients' children to meet them at the top of the run before they went anywhere. All the kids had proved to be spoiled, rude and arrogant to an impressive degree. Not only that but they can't ski to save their life,

"Dick, Damian's a fast learner, he won't want to go on greens all day," Tim said,

"And neither will we," Tori added, "You promised we'd get to go to the terrain park and do tricks,"

"I'm sorry, my hands are tied. We can't lose them and we can't ditch them. They'll complain to their parents if we do,"

"Um…Grayson?" Damian said quietly,

"Not now Dami," Dick said, "Besides, Bruce needs to get this arrangement done—,"

"—Grayson?" Damian said, more urgently than before. Tim and Tori ignored Damian as well since they were too busy glaring at Dick,

"—Don't look at me like that," Dick said, "We need to help Bruce. It's only for a day. They'll complain and won't come out tomorrow,"

_"Grayson!"_ Damian yelled, grabbing all of their attention to him as he slid down to the blue trail—not the trail they picked—backwards, "How do I stop!?"

"_Shit,"_ Dick groaned, "You two help him and get back up the lift while I wait here for the Bernigens and Wintersons," Tim and Tori rolled their eyes but shuffled after Damian, who was still trying to turn himself around,

"You know, we could 'get lost' and conveniently find the terrain park ourselves," Tim said as they made long sloping curves after Damian, who had finally managed to turn himself forward,

"That is a very devious plan, Brother," Tori said with a slight smirk as they crossed over closer to where Damian was, "I am totally up for it if Damian doesn't rat us out,"

"We'll quickly teach him, it shouldn't be too hard,"

"Damian, turn the front of your skis inward to stop!" Tori called to him, which he thankfully did right before falling over into a snow drift, "Perfect," Tori said with a grimace. Tim and Tori slid to a stop next to Damian who glared up at them with his skis criss-crossed under him,

"Not a word," was all he said,

"Not even a few to get you back on your feet?" Tim asked,

"Shut up, I can get up myself,"

"Okay then. We have a proposition for you," Tori said, as Damian struggled to a sitting position,

"Which is?" he grunted as he tried to lift himself up by his hands,

"We ditch Dick and the snobs and hit some trails ourselves,"

"Fine," Damian snapped, "As long as I don't go backwards aga—,"

"—Wait, don'y get up like that you'll go…" Tim started only to cut himself off as Damian, who had finally gotten to his feet with a triumphant smile, tilted backwards off the edge of the trail and into the woods,

"…backwards," Tim finished as they both stared at where the eleven year-old had been a few seconds before,

"Oh my God. _Damian!"_ Tori screamed down into the woodsy area, "Are you okay!?" A few seconds of dead silence followed, making Tim and Tori glance at each other with a very fearful and worried expression. Tori almost decided to jump down after him and get him out since she could heal faster than he or Tim could,

"…yeah!" came a faint reply, "A tree stopped me!" they both let out a sigh of relief,

"C'mon, let's go find him," Tori said, pulling herself forward and weaving through the trees trying to find where Damian ended up, Tim a few feet behind her.

* * *

"Oh this is not your day, isn't it?" Tori said when they finally found Damian, he had went surprisingly far for a woods area and going backwards. She had been worried that he'd actually flown off the side of the mountain or something,

"Shut up Crowne," he grumbled as Tim helped him snap back into his skis,

"Okay, let's get out of here and find the lift," Tori said, they all carefully and with no accidents finally made it out of the wood trails and to a main trail. But there was a problem,

"Where the _hell_ are we?" Tim said looking around, trying to find a recognizable landmark. He looked over at Tori who shrugged helplessly,

"Don't look at me, amnesia remember? I don't remember this mountain at all!"

"And I've never skied before," Damian snapped,

"You did fine," Tori said,

"Shut up," he retorted, though he sounded pleased,

"I think we should go left,"

"You think Drake?" Damian demanded, "Don't you have a trail map?"

"…No…Dick had the only one,"

"Well that's just bad planning," Tori sighed, "And we shouldn't just ski around hoping to find a way out,"

"Well we should at least ski to where a sign is," Tim said,

"Then we should call Grayson. He's probably called the entire Justice League to send search parties for us by this point," Damian said, rolling his eyes,

"Okay, then I say we go left," Tim stated. Tori and Damian rolled their eyes but followed him.

The trail they were on was pretty smooth and well groomed, but then they got to a shoddy patch that had moguls,

"Shoot," Tim said before glancing at Tori and Damian, "You've done moguls before right?"

"Yeah," Tori replied, "But this isn't something for beginners," they both glanced at Damian,

"Don't look at me like that, I can do anything you can do,"

"Let's call Dick first though," Tim said, "That way he doesn't think we're all dead," he pulled out his phone as he spoke and dialed the number. Tori and Damian waited quietly next to him. Damian was looking down at the moguls with an apprehensive expression while Tori wiggled her toes and fingers to make sure they were still moveable and not stiff as stone. It was getting colder and cloudy which implied snowfall, not good for a Talon. She really probably shouldn't have gone out that day, but she liked to ski. Maybe not as much as she loved soccer and gymnastics or martial arts but it was something she and her family did together every winter. They had a lot of memorable moments during their ski trips. Grant perfecting his front flip when he was fourteen, Liam getting a concussion when he hit a jump unexpectedly and his 'I'm not actually high but I sound like I am' episode that followed the incident and Tori and Ali sitting next to each other with marshmallows on spear forks over an open flame making s'mores on Ali's birthday. Tori remembered skiing down her first black diamond and how proud she'd been. She couldn't help but smile at the memory,

"Damnit," Tim growled, snapping Tori back to the present, "There's no signal. We'll need to reach the bottom in order to try again. Damian, are you sure you're up for this?"

"I can do it," Damian snapped, though he didn't seem sure,

"I could carry—,"

"—Don't finish that sentence if you wish to live," Damian growled,

"Okay…no need to threaten,"

"He does it all the time, I have no idea why you are so surprised by it," Tori stated with an eye roll which Tim glared at,

"So, you going to go?" Tori asked, looking at Damian,

"You should go first," Damian said, "So I know how to maneuver myself," Tori shrugged, "Tim go behind him,"

"Why!" Damian growled, "I do not need—"

"It's in case you _fall!"_ Tori snapped, "If we are both ahead of you and you fall we can't help you and we wouldn't know that you even fell. It's for your safety and you really shouldn't question why we'd be concerned about that!" Damian blinked at her through his goggles before letting out his signature 'tt.' Tori, pulling back her retort launched herself over the edge and started through the moguls.

Damian did just fine on the moguls. He only fell twice, once he skidded over some ice and landed on his side and the second he popped out of his skis. After those falls he actually let Tim instruct him on how to maneuver around the lumps of snow without falling and how to detect whether there was ice over the snow ahead of him.

It was surprisingly empty where they were skiing but it turned out they had been on a trial that led directly to the ski lift they needed to meet up with Dick. The oldest of them himself was waiting anxiously by the ski lift lines looking around worriedly. When he finally saw them his facial expression morphed from surprise to relief to anger,

"Where the hell were you guys!?" he demanded, the Bernigens and Wintersons were standing on their skis and snowboards a few feet away with bemused expressions on their faces,

"It's not our fault Damian insisted on falling off the trail and through to another!" Tim snapped,

"Yeah, and it wasn't our fault that none of us had a _map,"_ Tori said giving him a look and crossing her arms, "We had no idea where we were,"

"…Oh," Dick sputtered, before straightening himself up and trying to look somewhat responsible,"Well…you still should have called,"

"No service," all three of them deadpanned. Dick sighed,

"C'mon, let's go to the terrain park. The others want to go in," he said, waving nicely at the four girls and three boys that were the Wintersons and Bernigens. The Wintersons were two boys: Justin and Max, and one girl: Candace while the Bernigens were one boy: Cooper and three girls: Maddison, Lacey and Saree. Tori hated them all, except maybe Cooper, he was decent,

"Yes! Finally some tricks!" Tim cried,

"Fine, but you still need to teach me how to do this thing called _SKIING!"_ Damian snapped,

"Yes, we can go on a few blues and greens before the park, but let's actually do this before I literally freeze," Tori agreed as they all shuffled off to the ski lift line,

"When is father coming out?"

"Soon, probably another hour or so," Dick said, "and I told you the others would go in soon. You didn't have to stall,"

"We didn't stall!" Tim cried, as they shuffled forward again, Dick throwing out his arm to keep Damian from plowing into a snowboarder ahead of them, "Damian actually fell off the trail through the woods and onto another trail,"

"Well, we _were_ planning to ditch you and the others, but then all the issues happened so we couldn't really do that," they let the people in the other line go ahead of them because they needed to alternate which line went first,

"I had to do moguls to get back here Grayson, _moguls!_ We couldn't stall even if we wanted to!" Damian cried as they all shuffled up to the line for the chair,

"All right all right, yeesh. Let's get going before the park crowds up." With that said they settled onto the life in a comfortable silence, excited to start skiing the way they wanted to.


	8. STAR WARS!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. (This is for **EPISODE VII**, not the recent ones!)

* * *

"I'm so excited!" Tori said, jumping up and down a little as they walked through the parking lot, "We've waited forever for this movie!" Tori, Jason, Tim, Dick and Damian were all going to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the night it was being released. They had worked hard to get the tickets, and it would definitely be worth it. Tori, who had been a huge Star Wars fan before being reintroduced to the six episodes before the new release, was dressed up as Leia. Her hair braided and pulled up into a bun. Jason was dressed as Han Solo naturally while Tim was dressed as Chewbacca, Dick was sporting Yoda ears and Damian had reluctantly agreed to wear a Storm Trooper suit minus the helmet,

"You know since you're wearing the Chewbacca suit it means you're basically my bitch," Jason said as they stood in line for their snacks. They had gotten to the theater super earlier, they did not want to get stopped by excessively long lines and not get seats together,

"Shut up Jason. Chewie is not defined by his loyalty to Han," Tim said, glaring at him,

"Yeah Jason, don't say that about Chewie," Tori said smacking his arm,

"Hey, it's true!"

"Chewbacca can survive without Han just like Han can survive without Chewie, they stay partners because they want to. They're friends," Dick said sternly. Glaring at them to get them to behave, "No one is anyone's bitch,"

"Tt, this argument is stupid," Damian said, "I want gummy bears Grayson," he added, tapping the glass that displayed the candy,

"Do we want butter on the popcorn?" Dick asked as he fished for his wallet,

"It's not going to put butter on itself," Tori said,

"Alfred would kill us if he knew," Tim said,

"That's why he isn't here," Tori replied, elbowing her brother, "Let's be daring and eat some fattening sludge,"

"I'm not eating that garbage," Damian said, trying to rip open his package of gummies with his teeth,

"Give it," Dick said, handing the popcorn bucket to Jason who greedily took a giant handful and shoved it in his mouth so he could open the bears for Damian, "I swear you guys are two year-olds tonight,"

"Shut it Goldie this is the event of a lifetime here. Plus it's the only time we can have our whole family together without a fight breaking out and without Barbie or Brown to break up said fight,"

"What, are you saying I can't break up a fight between you guys?" Tori said, as she took her seat next to Jason,

"You'd be in the center of it yelling obscenities," Jason said, offering her the bowl, "Did you bring the wings?" he asked under his breath. Tori rolled her eyes but reached into her over-sized bag and handed him a container they managed to fill away from Alfred's prying eyes before leaving for the movie,

"Of course I did," she said, "You better share,"

"Yeah! I want a wing!" Tim said from where he say next to Tori,

"Me too!" Dick said from Jason's other side,

"No, we stole them for ourselves!" Jason snapped, "Get your own wings!"

"C'mon you have a full container!" Dick pointed out,

"Yeah and you're wearing Yoda ears, he's not even in this movie dumbass!"

"Is that really an insult? Did you really bring Yoda into this?" Dick said. Tori let out a loud ear-piercing whistle, which shut the boys up,

"Knock it off and Jason give them a wing before we get kicked out of the theater," Jason sighed but surrendered his yummy treat. As the premiering time drew closer and the theater started to fill everyone was getting so excited. The anticipation was kill them, as was the wait. Finally the lights dimmed and the previews started,

"If someone I like dies I'm going to be so upset," Tori whispered before the theater was completely dark.

* * *

"Is she still crying?" Tim asked as they exited the theater. Jason looked back to Tori, who was perched on his back piggy-back style with her face buried in his shoulder,

"Yup," he said,

"You know…I think I kind of expected it," Dick said,

"No you couldn't have, there was no indication until you got to that scene," Jason said as they weaved their way through the mass of people seeing late movies or exiting from finished ones,

"The surrounding environment looked like the one where Luke got his hand cut off…something big had to have happened," Tim said, agreeing somewhat with Dick,

"I shouldn't have said anything before the movie started," Tori moaned,

"She moves," Jason monotoned,

"Shut up," Tori snapped,

"Oh c'mon, Toria. It was a movie,"

"A really really good movie," Tori agreed, "But why? _Why!"_

"He might not even be dead," Dick said, "He may come back for some miraculous moment,"

"Don't wish that upon someone," Tori and Jason said at the same time,

"Sorry," Dick said, frowning since his light humor didn't raise their spirits, "What did you think Damian?"

"Kylo Ren is a hot headed fool," he replied, crossing his arms…or attempting to since his Trooper suit wouldn't really allow that motion, "he is not fit to lead or follow in that hologram man's footsteps. Though I do still like him as a character,"

"I feel like he's been manipulated to do bad and he's not actually bad himself. I mean he was at war with himself," Tim said,

"And yet he killed the whole new generation of Jedi," Jason said as he pushed open the door to the parking lot, "I think that's some pretty dark side shit to do,"

"Not to mention that other death scene," Tori said sadly, still perched on Jason's back,

"Not all of the new Jedi," Tim said,

"What do you mean?"

"Rey," Tim said, "She survived,"

"She wasn't being trained. She was a child when she was left on Jakku," Damian said,

"That we know of,"

"Ugh, Tim now you're just speculating," Dick said as he dug through his pockets for his keys, "Next you'll be saying she's Luke Skywalker's daughter or something,"

"But—,"

"—Shush, no speculation until at least May,"

"That makes no sense,"

"Just accept it Tim. He does that for every movie we make him see,"

"So movies are the only way to keep you guys from fighting?" Tori asked, still glum from the character death in the movie,

"That and/or Barbara or Stephanie," Dick said, still trying to find the car they used to get to the theater,

"Where is Steph and Babs, wouldn't they want to see it,"

"We're going to see it again later when we can dress up as Leia and Han," Tim said, glaring pointedly at Jason and Tori,

"You snooze you lose," Tori said, grinning impishly at him,

"Same for Babs and I," Dick said, "Of course we'll be the only ones dressing up and Barbara will hate it…but it'll be worth it,"

"Why would she hate it?" Damian asked,

"She's a Trekkie," Dick said wrinkling his nose, finally finding the car and unlocking it,

"Ugh, the worst kind," Tori said with a shudder as she hopped off Jason's back,

"Uh…Goldie?" Jason said from where he was about to get into the shotgun side of the car,

"Yeah?"

"We got a parking ticket,"

"What?" Dick exclaimed, "Really?"

"We paid for parking!" Tori exclaimed from her seat in the back,

"Yeah…but we were five minutes overtime," Jason said, rolling his eyes,

"Well that's just stupid,"

"I bet everyone who saw Star Wars got a ticket," Tim stated,

"Well whoever gets this money is getting paid well tonight," Tori said, "I'm content with letting Dick explain this to Bruce,"

"Agreed," came the three other replies, followed by a, "HEY!" from Dick. They drove off, a smirk on each of their faces…except for Dick's…Bruce hated to spend money on speeding or parking tickets, four of which he had to pay for Dick in the past two months. Dick was royally screwed.


	9. ELEVATORS

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"Why do we have to be here again?" Tori asked for the sixth time in the past minute,

"I am seriously considering taking you to the doctor to make sure you don't have short term memory loss," Dick said as they stood waiting for the elevator to come, "We're here because Lex Luthor is having a huge gala or whatever, he's hoping to make a deal with Bruce…which will most likely not happen…it's a party we're all going,"

"Except Damian," Tim said, crossing his arms and pouting, "lucky,"

"He has a concussion!"

"Can't we just skip?"

"Nope, press will be there,"

"And you didn't tell me this before?" Tori said frowning, she hated the press,

"You wouldn't have wanted to come,"

"They're nosy and make things difficult,"

"Which is why we're here to keep them away from you," Tim said, "Goddamn what is taking this elevator so long,"

"Is that two or one dollars in the swear jar?" Tori asked Dick, who shrugged,

"Alfie's not here to enforce it so if you keep quiet I will,"

"I wonder if he realizes it just makes us learn the swears in different languages," Tori thought out loud, brushing a bit of dust off of her dress,

"He catches on quickly though," Dick said,

"Yeah." The elevator finally dinged and the three climbed in. The elevator climbed upwards at a crawl. It was very, very, very slow,

"By the time we get up there it will be time to leave," Tim said. The other two nodded in agreement. They stood in a comfortable silence for three minutes,

"I'm bored," Dick said finally as they neared the fourth minute. Tori grinned,

"You know what always cures boredom?" Tori started, "Handstands!" Dick grinned,

"On the count of three—,"

"—No! You'll break the elevator!" Tim cried,

"—One," Dick said,

"—You're a grown up!"

"Only in age!"

"—Two!" Tori said gleefully,

"—You're in a dress!"

"—I've got leggings on,"

"Three!" Dick said as both he and Tori pulled their feet up over their heads in a very well executed handstand. They stayed for half a minute before leaping off their hands and to their feet,

"See Tim, the elevator didn't break. Lighten up a—!" Tori started only to stop as the elevator screeched oddly and shuttered to a stop. The lights flickered once before dying altogether. Tori, who had unintentionally grabbed onto Tim, let out a small shriek,

"I told you! I_ told_ you!" Tim yelled, clutching onto her as well with equal vigor,

"Guys shut up!" Dick said, it was hard to see him in the dark, "The power went out, it had nothing to do with us,"

"Oh…I…uh…I knew that," both Tim and Tori said letting each other go,

"Is there a signal?" Tori asked, pulling out her phone from her bag,

"No," Tim said, his out already, "No way to call Bruce," Dick turned to where the doors were and shoved his fingertips along the seem of where they double doors would open, grunting and straining to pull them apart manually. He got them open a crack, which was enough to see that they were stuck in-between floors,

"Ugh, you have got to be kidding me," Tori said, "Now how will we get out?"

"Well. As normal civilians we can wait until Bruce and the rest of the people upstairs realize that we're not there and they come to find us," Tim suggested,

"Or, as vigilantes we can climb up to the next floor and pretend we were never in the elevators in the first place," Dick supplied next, a grin on his features,

"How are you smiling right now?" Tori asked, frowning at her cousin, "This is the worst worst case scenario. I have to climb out of an elevator in a dress in high heels!"

"It's not all bad," Tim said, a smirk on his face, "You're wearing leggings after all aren't you?"

"Do you want me to smack you?" Tori snapped,

"Okay, enough you two, let's get a move on before people try to come and get us," Dick said, "Tori you're the lightest out of all of us so you get to remove the grate that leads to the outside of the elevator," Tori groaned as Dick linked his hands together and held them out for her. Sighing she kicked off her shoes—her expensive shoes—and grabbed onto his shoulders as she steppe into the cupped hands. Dick then lifted her up with practice ease and Tim handed her a mini screwdriver he, for some reason, had on him. She quickly removed the grate and with a small grunt pulled herself through the hole,

"It might be a little tight for you Dick," she called down, her voice echoing in the elevator shaft,

"Is that a fat joke?" Dick asked as he lifted Tim up to the hole,

"No, it's a statement of fact: you're shoulders may be too broad for the hole,"

"He'll be find," Tim said, "He's a contortionist." Dick was indeed fine, he did need to shift around a little bit to pull himself fully through the gap, but he made it. They then stared up at the wires holding up the elevator,

"We should go one at a time," Tori said, "We don't know how much weight these wires can hold and I do not want to repeat some bad spy movie where the wire holding the elevator always breaks,"

"Fine," Dick said, "To the next floor, it shouldn't be too difficult a climb. You're free to go Tori,"

"What, why do I have to go first?"

"Because you're the lightest, it's less likely to break if you go first," Dick said,

"You just don't want to go first do you?"

"Nope," Dick said popping the 'p'

"Fine I'll go," Tori said, grabbing the wire and pulling herself up. She started with using only her arms but once she got a few feet off the ground she wrapped her legs around the wire. It was a few feet up, at least ten maybe twelve or thirteen, but it was an easy climb like Dick said it would be.

Surprisingly it was Dick who went next. It seemed he wanted to get it over with and scampered up the rope quickly and soundlessly while Tim complained the most on the way up,

"This is so much easier with a grappling gun," he groaned as he sloppily pulled himself up,

"You rely on those too much," Dick said from where he sat on the edge by the double doors to the next floor up, "Hurry up,"

"Complain less, climb more," Tori added helpfully form where she stood leaning against the elevator door frame,

"Not my fault you made it look easy," Tim muttered as he started to swing a little to gain momentum before leaping over a Tori, an arm outstretched to catch her's. Tori caught him and placed his hand on the ledge so he could pull himself up,

"Trapeze artist," Dick said, pointing to himself

"Trained by Court of Owls," Tori said pointing to herself, "If you're concerned about how difficult this climb was, lay off the donuts," Tori said with a wink and smirk at her brother as she patted his stomach. He glowered at her,

"you know I could just push you off this ledge and you'd be completely fine but my revenge for that comment would still be fulfilled right?" Tim asked, "Because you'd have to climb all the way up here bouldering style since the wires are up here, not down there at the moment," it was Tori's turn to glower at him,

"Okay, let's not push each other off the ledge…Tim I think Damian's wearing off on you," Dick said, as the started to pull the doors apart,

"Oh my God…you're right! Sorry Tori, did not mean that!" Tori rolled her eyes,

"It's fine," she said, stepping through the now open doors and into the darkened hallway, "But it's official…I hate elevators." That said the three wandered down the hallways until they found the stairs and marched right up to the penthouse just in time to not be noticed missing.


	10. DANGEROUS NIGHTS II PART I

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"I need backup, like _major_ backup," Tori said as she sprinted across the rooftops of Gotham. She didn't glance behind her she just sprinted with all her might. She and Tim had been out that night together and it had been going great until they got separated,

"What why?" Dick asked,

"Do you really need to know why?" Tori asked, leaping again and stumbling a little as she landed,

"Where are you?" Tim demanded,

"Aren't you with her?" Bruce growled, Tori rolled her eyes before leaping again, she had no idea where she was going, she only knew that she needed help and fast or she was a Talon goner,

"Well I was until Miss Super Ears heard something and ditched me!" Tim said, he sounded furious,

"Talon, where are you?" Bruce snapped,

"Uhhh…no clue!" she said, trying not to wince at the literal growl Bruce let out,

"How can you not know where you are?" Damian snapped,

"I haven't really been paying attention to landmarks," Tori said,

"What were you chasing? You took off like a bloodhound on a scent," Tim said,

"Can't you guys track me? I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. I may have great endurance and stamina and agility but even that won't last for a Talon," Tori said breathlessly,

"What did you chase?" this time it was Bruce who was asking,

"Ahh about that—,"

"—trap?" Dick asked,

"Totally," Tori said, "…Sorry,"

"Where are you?" Bruce asked, this time urgent,

"I don't know! I thought we established that?"

"Get some distance and try and find a knowledgeable landmark," Tim said,

"Again, can't you just track me?"

"With what? You're nonexistent chip?" Tori decided to stop arguing with them and do what they asked, it was doing nothing for her favor if she kept talking,

"Who's after you,"

"…Cobb," Tori said, risking a glance back. The older Talon was keeping pace with her, he was actually getting closer. Tori took a deep gulp of air and pushed herself to go faster,

"And you're running away?" Damian snapped, "You've gone toe to toe with him before, you can beat him,"

"As encouraging as that is, going toe to toe with him got me a dagger in the side," Tori snapped, "Besides, I don't want to face him, that man _tortured_ me. If you faced someone who tortured you, you wouldn't be saying that," silence reigned for a second before Tori realized they were around the area of Leslie's clinic,

"I'm near Leslie's clinic…I don't know for how long though," she said as she leapt again to a different rooftop. Tori vaulted over the air ducts poking out of the roof and sprinted to the edge of the rooftop,

"I'm on my way," Tim said,

"Me too," Dick said, Tori could hear their grappling lines being tossed and the wind whistling as they swung. Tori knew they wouldn't get there fast enough. They'd be long gone from the area by the time they arrived…Tori would have to try and loop around the area a few times and hope Cobb didn't catch on. She made it to the edge and jumped into the air only to feel something grab her ankle and tug her back slightly. She let out a small cry as she nearly collided with the edge of the rooftop she was aiming for…but she managed to grab onto it.

Looking back she saw that it was a chain with a metal talon's claw that had ensnared her ankle. William, who did not have his mask on at the moment smirked darkly at her as he reeled her in, like a fish. Tori clenched her teeth and gripped the building's wall tighter. She held on with all her strength despite the fact that it felt like she was being ripped in two. She held on until there was a loud cracking sound and a part of the building broke off. Tori let go of the brick chunk she took with her as she swung downwards, her head hitting the side of the building Cobb was standing on.

William started to pull her up as Tori struggled helplessly. She kicked at the claw and tried to grab onto the wall only to break some of her nails in the process. She did not want to face him again…not after what he did, not after they fought and he injured her one last time with the serum on his blade. She still woke up at night with sweat dripping down her face and a trembling that wouldn't stop remembering the agony of his whip and the searing pain of the serum. Tori couldn't get caught. She grabbed the hilt of her dagger and pulled herself upwards to slash at the chain attached to the claw, hoping the chain wasn't made out of the same strength enhanced metal as the dagger.

It wasn't, her dagger cut through the chain like butter and she fell with a crash onto the fire escape. Not wasting any time she kicked the claw off and leapt over the railing, just as Cobb landed right where she used to lay. Her feet it concrete and she was off sprinting along the roads. Crime Alley was always void of cars at this time of night, everyone inside and the only people out and about were criminals, mob members and drug dealers. She wasn't in an advantageous setting either, Cobb stuck with the rooftops while she was on lower ground. She was in danger…she needed the rooftops again. Tori spun on her heel and ducked into the first alleyway she could find. She sprinted to the first fire escape and climbed up the outer most railings to the very top of the building. Tori sprinted across the rooftop only to get nailed by William halfway as he swung into her from the side.

Tori skidded across the pavement, she rolled over backward and rose to her feet just in time to block his first punch,

"Why waste your energy on me?" she asked, trying not to sound too breathless. She ducked under another punch and threw one of her own. Cobb caught it and flipped her over his shoulder. She landed hard, enough to knock the air out of her lungs. Snapping her eyes open she rolled away, barely avoiding his sword's point. She scrambled to her feet and pulled her own sword and dagger free,

"Why let a damaged bird roam free when it needs to be put down. It'll only die on its own," he snapped back,

"How am I damaged?" Tori questioned, "Just because I won't follow your orders or the Grandmaster's orders doesn't make me damaged,"

"It does to us. You're a liability, a mockery to what the Court stands for…teaming up with Batman," Cobb said in disgust. Tori brought her blade up just in time to block his speedy attack. Talons have unusual speed, older Talons were much faster than the younger ones because they had the Electrum in their blood the longest. Tori's booted feet slide backwards at the force of the blow and Cobb stumbled forward because of it. That was the only moment of rest Tori had before they were both sending blows at blinding speeds. Tori trying desperately to keep up with him while trying to also avoid being backed off the roof. His speed was the only advantage he had, she'd been trained by a better swordsman. They traded blows and parries, thrusts and lunges, slashes and hilt hits until they both stumbled to a brief stop, both panting and glaring at each other,

"You don't need to do this," Tori panted, "I'm nothing to you. I don't belong to the Court, you can forget about me,"

"No. You are still my heir and my blood. Your betrayal rocked the Court, our numbers are almost nonexistent. You need to pay for what you've done," William didn't sound regretful, not in the slightest…but there was something in his eyes that made Tori lower her sword and dagger slightly. Eyes are windows to the soul, Tori truly believed that…eyes held a story that anyone can read if they look hard enough for it,

"The Grandmaster is making you do this isn't he?" she guessed, "To teach you a lesson," Cobb didn't say anything, but his glare said much more,

"An heir that betrays is the worst to our cause, the mentor left behind suffers the most for his crime of bringing that heir into our home and teaching them the ways of the Talons and giving them the knowledge to destroy the Nest. You are not the first heir to seek the destruction the Court. I've seen the repercussions handed out by the Grandmaster…I find this the least agonizing one," Tori hated to admit it…but she actually felt sorry for her grandfather. His trust and loyalty to the Court was being questioned because of what she's done, even though his loyalty never shifted. She also couldn't help but remember back to the last few minutes before she became a Talon and William told her the Grandmaster's new plan. He had granted her the chance to spare her brother the life of a Talon by telling her that change of plans.

Her distraction nearly cost her the fight, Tori barely had time to dodge William's attack while she was reminiscing of the past. She cursed her distracted mind and focused on her attacks. William, though a good sword fighter, was more of a knife thrower than a swordsman. He preferred fighting at a distance…she needed to get in close. Tori pushed Cobb away from her and threw her dagger and sword the the ground. William regarded her with a stunned expression before glaring at her suspiciously. Tori smiled sweetly before dropping her level—lowering her core so she had a more balanced stance—and lunging for William's left leg. He realized to late that she was going for the take-down. He threw his weapon down and tried for the guillotine choke hold—a hold that would render even a Talon unconscious in two seconds—too late, she had him.

William fell heavily on his back as she lifted his right leg with one hand and cut the left knee—causing it to buckle—with the other hand as she stepped to the left. Tori then leapt at him, pushing his chest down with her hands as he tried to leap to his feet and pinning his right arm down with her left knee while straddling his chest with her other left, she pinned his other hand with her own right hand and brought her left fist back and punched him repeatedly in the face,

"I don't know why I felt bad for you back there. I _briefly_ did but I don't think you deserve that now anymore. You tortured me! You _forced_ me to become a Talon—," William let out a sputtering laugh, spitting a bit of blood out as he did so,

"I didn't force you to do anything," he said, "You had a choice. Just as I had a choice and you made it of your own free will,"

"Your torture decided for me! I would have _died_ and you wouldn't have cared,"

"I never said I wouldn't have cared, and you've never asked. Despite what you may think my regard for you is nothing but what one would feel for the only family left in the world. I did not want to do what I did, but I was given orders. The Grandmaster knows the family trees for each Talon and he chose you out of all the others on mine. He only changed his mind when he realized your stubbornness would kill you before you gave in," Tori gritted her teeth and punched him in the face again,

"Don't you dare blame anyone else for _your_ actions!"

"Like you blame _me_ for _your_ choice? You _chose_ to be a Talon just like I did. Your _reason_ may be different, but it was still _your_ choice. You became a Talon to protect your family…your loyalty to your family and morals was your downfall just as it was mine when the Grandmaster told me to kill you," Tori felt her rage boil and she shifted her weight so she could land one more good punch before knocking him out. As she pulled her fist back she glared down at him and hissed,

"You're wrong. My loyalty is my strength!" Cobb laughed and pulled his head to the side as she brought her fist down. Tori stared in shock at the hole she made in the concrete roofing,

"I figured you'd feel better about your loss if you got to hit me a little," William said before bumping her with his hips. Tori fell forward slightly, her grip on his left wrist slipping and her knee shifting off of his other hand. Tori scrambled forward and rolled away from William even as his knife scratched her side. Blinding pain made her let out a small groan. Tori jackknifed to her feet and started to back away from Cobb, towards the corner of the roof hoping she'd be able to run despite the scratch once she was off the rooftop or that at least Dick or Tim would manage to get to where she was. William stared at her evenly, tossing his serum dagger from one hand to the other,

"Planning to run again? You know my aim is much better and faster than your dodging skills," he grinned like a Cheshire cat, his dark dark blue eyes—almost black—glittering in the moon light,

"No, I'm planning on giving you a taste of your own medicine," Tori growled, lunging forward to grab the dagger out of the air as he tossed it, but he was quicker…she forgot he was older and therefore faster, her anger may have clouded her judgement on the matter of her skill and speed compared to his. He grabbed her arm, catching the dagger in his right hand while snatching her left forearm in his left hand and spinning her around. His left arm then snaked its way around her throat with her back to him. She struggled and kicked at his shins, but nothing stopped the crushing force he put on her windpipe,

"I wonder if you'll live this time," he whispered in her ear, something odd in his voice as he said it, and thrust the dagger into her lower back. Tori gasped, the icy shock of the wound much greater than the agony that followed. She didn't even cry out, not even when the dagger was removed, not even when Cobb was sidelined by Dick or when Tim appeared gliding on his metallic wings a few seconds behind him. Tori only cried out when she tipped forward, unable to stop her momentum, she managed to turn around and see Tim's startled face as he reached for her before she fell to the ground. It was then that the roaring agony fired through her veins and she screamed.

Tori was still awake when Tim landed next to her. He turned her onto her stomach. She was thrashing as if it would help make the pain stop. She flailed so much he had to place his knee on her upper back to keep her still. Tori couldn't see his face but as he called for Dick she could hear the worry in his voice. Suddenly Dick was on her other side, she could see his grim face and a few slashes on his suit from his fight with William,

"Where's the cure?" Dick asked breathless and with worry in his voice, "Do you have it?"

"Yeah, but I can't reach it without her flailing and hurting herself even more," Tim said panic in his voice, "We need to hurry…I-I don't think I have enough. This is deep and it won't stop bleeding,"

"Use what you have now. Batman's on his way with the Batmobile, there's more in the Cave,"

"What if—,"

"—It's not time for what ifs Red. I'll hold her you get the cure," Their voices were tinny and echoing painfully in her ears. All she wanted to do was sleep. She just wanted silence…and peace…and no pain. Her throat hurt from screaming and she felt like she was choking at the same time. She coughed and sputtered and was pretty sure she coughed up blood at some point…but she felt the needle of the syringe with the cure as it entered her wound…causing her to thrash harder and scream more. The pain receded slightly, but flared like the rolling waves of the sea,

"…I don't think it will last," Tim was saying, "Where's Batman?"

"Another minute," Dick said as he lifted Tori into his arms, "Let's sedate her…" she didn't hear what he said after that, the roar of the Batmobile's engines were too loud as it approached and the icy spreading of the sedative that was injected into her arm made everything blur into nothing…but before she blacked out entirely she was pretty sure she saw a dark figure perched on the rooftop across from where she had fought her grandfather. Her last thought was that she had to be dreaming or hallucinating.


	11. DANGEROUS NIGHTS II PART II

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Tori woke up with her head throbbing, throat sore and insanely nauseous. She felt so sick she couldn't even sit up right away and she lay blinking stupidly up at the bright lights of the medical area of the Batcave. She could hear low voices talking nearby, but her throat hurt too much to want to try and call out to anyone. Tori only say up when her stomach lurched uncomfortably and her nauseous feeling escalated above and beyond. She threw herself into a sitting position, ignoring the flash of pain that seared through her lower back, and threw up over the side of the bed. Tori didn't even feel bad about it, she felt awful.

Through the sound of her hacking and coughing up whatever was in her stomach she heard footsteps approach and some helpful hands pull back her hair,

"She's up," a voice said. Her hearing was muddled, like she had plugs in her ears. Tori figured it must be because of the serum, she was back to basically human abilities. She was vulnerable and the Court probably knew it too. She let go of the railing that was on either side of the medical bed and slumped back into the pillows with a groan followed by a muffled yelp of pain,

"Hey Sleeping Beauty, glad to see you're awake," Dick said. Tori let out another groan and rubbed her hands over her eyes,

"I don't feel like a beauty…more like a zombie," she rasped, her throat still hurt and it felt like the Sahara Desert,

"Here's some water for your throat, you did a lot of screaming,"

"Great," Tori monotoned,

"Okay...I'm going to get something to clean that mess up, tell everyone you're finally up and tell Alfred to get you some pain medication. Sorry you had to wake up with some pain, but we thought it was safer to get you off the morphine sooner rather than later,"

"I'd like some morphine," Tori said, hands still over her eyes a small smile on her face,

"Nope," Dick said cheerfully,

"How long was I down here?"

"Almost four days…not that bad…but it was longer than last time," Tori let out another groan as Dick left the area and rolled onto her side, only to let out a cry of pain. Her side burned,

"Please hurry on that pain medication," Tori called after Dick.

"We were worried we weren't going to get you here in time," Tim said from his seat next to her bed. Alfred had ordered Tori back into it the moment she tried to get out because Dick was taking so long to get down there again. The Butler had materialized out of nowhere and told her in a clipped tone to get back into bed. No, his exact words were: _"Get your bottom back in that bed this instant before I kneecap you, and this time it will hurt since you are still not well from your last bout of Serum."_ Alfred never lies about his threats so Tori scrambled back into her bed,

"Well…I feel like crap, but I'm still alive. So you did good," she said,

"It was a very deep wound," Bruce said from the entrance of the medical area, "A bit of the blade broke off too, had to get that out before injecting anymore of the cure,"

"And even then it still wouldn't close on its own. We had to give you stitches. Actual _stitches_!" Stephanie said where she sat on her other side,

"What really?" Tori asked, turning to try and get a look, only to wince in pain and stop the movement,

"We took them out a day ago," Dick said from where he now stood leaning against the cave wall, "It started to heal again so we decided to let your body do the rest,"

"It is quite marvelous how even when your Talon abilities aren't at one hundred percent, they can still heal your wounds,"

"It's like the Electrum drug was designed to protect you," Bruce said nodding in agreement,

"That's great—," Tori started, only to gag and clap her hands over her mouth. Tim intuitively grabbed a wastebasket nearby and shoved it in her lap while Steph tied her hair back in a sloppy bun. Tori smiled thankfully and apologetically at them once she was done,

"Ugh…why does that keep happening?" Tori moaned, clutching her stomach, which gurgled uncomfortably,

"Well…the Serum is something that's damaging to your body and needs to be expelled somehow from your system and this seems the only way to…um…expel it. It's basically like you have food poisoning now" Tim supplied, Tori made a disgusted and annoyed face,

"Trust me, upstairs is better than downstairs," Dick said just as somewhere upstairs the clock struck ten,

"Time for Patrol," Bruce said, "Tori you're obviously staying in…would anyone like to keep her company?" Stephanie spoke up before anyone else could,

"I'll do it. I've been wanting a night off and we haven't had a sleepover in almost two years since you disappeared the first time,"

"Great. Tori—," Bruce started very seriously, "—don't aggravate that wound, no acrobatics," Tori frowned and stuck her tongue out at him when he turned to leave,

"What should we do first?" Stephanie asked smiling brightly. Tori, despite her discomfort, couldn't help but return the smile.

* * *

"I don't get how UNO can be the cause of so much fighting between friends," Stephanie said as she took from the main deck. It was their second game and there hadn't been any instances of 'foul play' yet,

"Probably because of this," Tori said with an evil smirk and smacking the draw four card on the pile. Stephanie's eyes widened,

"How could you?" she gasped,

"Sorry, it was waiting there! How could I refuse! And the timing was perfect!"

"Okay, that's it. Before we start physically fighting I'm ending this game and I'm getting a movie to watch and some popcorn," Stephanie said as she tossed her cards on the floor and hopping up to head in the kitchen, "And no acrobatics!" she called back into the room. Tori stuck her tongue out at her. Sure, she had tried to sneak in some tricks here and there just to test her range of movement and because she hated to just sit still for a long period of time. She had been unconscious for four days for Pete's sake, she needed to _move_! Tori sat pouting while cleaning up the cards before she put them down and looked back towards the kitchen and evilly smirking a little before putting her hands flat on the floor and pushing her legs up off the floor. She then started to execute a press handstand from the floor. She had made it a quarter of the way when her back spasmed with pain and she crumpled unceremoniously to the floor with a yelp,

"What did I just say?" Stephanie cried from behind her huddled figure, "What was the one thing you were told not to do tonight?" she asked, moving to stand in front of Tori hands on hips, with a stern expression on her face. Stephanie rarely got mad, but when she did it was kind of a scary thing,

"Do acrobatics," Tori replied, glancing up at her friend with her chin on the carpeted floor,

"And what did you do?"

"Gymnastics," Tori said,

"Huh?"

"You said I couldn't do _acrobatics_, press handstands are a _gymnastic_ skill, not acrobatics,"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Acro and gymnastics are very similar, but they're not the same thing," Tori said, sitting up and rubbing her back,

"Okay, fine. No Acro or gymnastics or press handstands!"

"Okay fine! _mom_!" Tori said, glaring at the floor. Stephanie sighed,

"Sorry for yelling, but you're my friend and I don't like to see you in pain," Tori rolled her eyes before widening them,

"Oh my God Stephanie!" she cried,

"What?"

"I can feel pain!" she said smiling widely,

"Annnd that's a good thing?"

"Well…no, but kind of…I can actually feel things like a normal human being for once!"

"Tori you are a human being,"

"Not really Steph, I'm really not much of a human being. I don't even know what I am," Tori said, leaning against the couch with her legs our in a straddle,

"You're someone in to different worlds," Stephanie said, "the living on and the…other one,"

"Other one?"

"Ya know, the place you went when you-" Steph made a throat cutting gesture,

"Where is that place I don't even know. I don't even remember…at least I don't think I do," Tori murmured, staring off into space almost going into a daydream,

"It's like that,"

"Huh?"

"Moments like just then, when you were staring off into space. Moments where it's as if you aren't all here. Jason does that sometimes too,"

"There's a lot trapped inside my head. Stuff I hope I never remember," silence reigned before Stephanie clapped a hand to her forehead,

"Oh, now I remember what I came beck in here for! Let's go up to _your_ room instead and watch a movie or two on your computer there _and_ eat popcorn!" Tori smiled,

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

"Mean Girls," Stephanie said, pointing at the screen,

"What the hell is that?" Tori asked,

"Oh my God! You don't remember Mean Girls?" she cried,

"No, I don't," Tori said around a mouthful of popcorn, most of the snacks Alfred had given them had come back up, but her stomach hadn't complained about the popcorn yet so Tori was going to keep eating it. Getting nutrients from an IV was not a walk in the park to come out of with the type of 'food poisoning' Tori had,

"We're watching it," Stephanie said, stealing the computer and pressing play, "It's completely new to you, so I get to watch your reaction," Tori rolled her eyes,

"It looks stupid,"

"Then you'll love it,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're a Grayson, you love stupid things," Tori was silent for a minute a small smile in place, watching the movie on the computer screen, now placed at the foot of Tori's bed near the footboard, start.

They were halfway through the movie, both of them talking more than watching and both of them slumping down as the hour passed, when their conversations slurred off to random comments, life questions and philosophical conversations about random things that their conversation took a different turn,

"Are you afraid of him?" Stephanie asked, yawning,

"Who?" Tori asked, eyes closed but still very much awake. Her head was on Steph's shoulder,

"William," Tori opened her eyes and looked up at her friend,

"I used to be," she said,

"What changed?"

"He didn't want to kill me," Tori said. Stephanie let out a snort and shook her head, her shoulder blade jabbing into the back of Tori's head slightly and causing her back to ache at the sudden jerky movement,

"Tell that to your back wound,"

"Well, I'm not dead am I?" Tori said, "He could have killed me, he had time. He could have easily escaped my take down and hold. He let me hit him, he let me dictate the terms of the fight up until the end. And instead of slashing my throat and pouring the Serum on the wound right there…all he did was stab me," Stephanie let out a sigh,

"Why are you defending him? He tortured you,"

"On the Grandmaster's orders," Tori stated…though Stephanie did have a point…why was he defending him?

"Then he's just a dog listening to his master. I suggest you take him down at the next opportunity,"

"Are you, miss no killing, suggesting I kill him?"

"I'd do it if I had the opportunity for Black Mask," Stephanie said with so much conviction Tori didn't even need to listen to her heart to know she spoke the truth,

"I don't think I could do that," Tori admitted, "not because I have Stockholm Syndrome or because he's family…but because I owe him. He told me of the Grandmaster's change of plans right before I died. They wouldn't have turned me into a Talon…they would have taken Cameron instead leaving me to just die,"

"_What?_" Stephanie asked shocked,

"I've actually never told anyone about that…not even Jason," Tori said,

"So he…by telling you this…saved you?"

"Yeah…I guess he did,"

"Wow…that's messed up. Torture you because that's his orders but then only when they unexpectedly change don't follow those new orders?" Tori let out a snort,

"Okay that's true, that's very messed up,"

"Your whole family is messed up,"

"No, not all of us!"

"Nope, you're all messed up. I mean, killing you to save you…it's just messed up. Not only that but your loyalty to one another is going to get you killed. You and Dick and maybe even asshat Cobb. You'd all do anything for your family it seems…evil or not,"

"No…I don't think that's a bad thing," Tori said. Stephanie rolled her eyes and let out another yawn, "Our loyalty is our strength."

* * *

A few days later, after her wounds had healed and her strength completely back to where it had been before Cobb's attack, Tori sat on her bed sharpening her blades when Jason walked into the room. He'd been away during and after the attack, and had come home as soon as he heard what happened two days ago. He'd mostly stayed at his safe house, but he visited the Manor often. Today though, he looked slightly angry…or maybe rather a little disconcerted,

"Why did you do it?" he asked her. Tori sat up straighter, her back still stiff from her recovery, wondering if she should answer before tossing the weapons back on the bed,

"How did you figure it out?" Tori asked in return…pondering what to say to his possible responses,

"This," Jason said, tossing a newspaper on her bed. Tori looked at the headline, trying not to give anything away,

"How do you know he's from the Court?"

"I made it my business to find out who every member, Talon or Owl, was under their masks after they took you. That way I'd know where to look for answers if they ever took you back," Tori couldn't help but smile,

"That's so sweet of you," she said, Jason didn't smile…but at the same time he didn't exactly look mad, only like he was trying to interpret the meaning of some type of modern art,

"Why did you do it?" he asked again,

"I don't know," she replied, going for the truthful and simple answer, "Was I wrong in doing what I did?"

"It depends on your reason," Jason said,

"It was partly vengeance," Tori allowed, "His decision made me what I am…but it was also to pay back a debt I owed someone,"

"_William?_" Jason almost growled, "You don't owe him _anything_,"

"Yes I do. I owe him my life because despite him trying to take it…he was only acting on orders. There's little room for disobedience in the Court, he had little to no choice. The threat of being frozen could mean years or centuries of lost time…and no Talon wants that. I should know. I would have just died there Jason. They would have taken Cameron instead of me unless I agreed to become a Talon…Cobb told me the Grandmaster's change of plans and in doing so granted me the opportunity to save my life and Cameron's," Tori turned to face Jason, pleading with her eyes, "Tell me that action didn't grant a favor in return. Tell me that I wasn't justified in doing what I did to fulfill that favor,"

"I'm not the one who'd think it wasn't justified," Jason said, "That man, the Grandmaster, has killed thousands of people without a single person in Gotham or the world knowing. He's probably forced dozens of older Talons to torture their stubborn and rebellious heirs into being just like them…a weapon for the Court. He deserved what you did to him. He tried to do the same thing to you and I suppose to William who had every opportunity to take you under his wing and claim you as his heir, but he didn't—not until the Grandmaster ordered it.

"I guess it could just a family trait, but resilience is strong in the Crowne, Grayson and Cobb genes. I'm not saying William doesn't deserve all the torture in the world for what he did for you…but I guess to create some form of a truce…one death was worth it," Tori smiled and let out a sigh of relief throwing her arms around him for a hug,

"I thought you were going to say that I was wrong to kill the Grandmaster. That I was wrong to try and form a truce…a way for William to owe me and a way to keep him from truly killing me one day," she said into his chest,

"The new Grandmaster will surely want you dead too though," Jason reminded her,

"Yeah…but now they have a warning to keep their distance," Tori said,

"They won't stop though,"

"That's fine. I have you, and Dick, Tim and Stephanie, and Barbara and Damian and Bruce and Alfred. I think I'm safe,"

"I'm proud of you too," Jason said, "You killed but didn't go on a bloody rampage…much better control than I would have had facing the person who enforced my torture,"

"Well…our deaths were different. As was your resurrection,"

"Tori I'm trying to be a nice supportive boyfriend and you're kind of ruining," Jason said,

"Sorry. Thank you Jason," Tori said with a laugh. She was glad Jason could see what she did not as something wrong but as something that was useful to them and something that might keep her and her family safe. The only issue was if Bruce saw it that way if or when he figured out who murdered that rich and powerful man that was secretly a part of the leading Owls of the Court of Owls, and she had no idea if he would see her side of that event,

"How do you know he'll see it as a truce?" Jason asked after a minute of silence between them, they were still in an embrace,

"I left him a note,"

"…a note?…did he reply?"

"More or less," Tori said with a shrug. Pulling out of the embrace to grab a crumpled up square piece of stiff paper, "the reply could be seen as a threat but I think we can use this 'him owing me' to our advantage…especially since in that case we'll have not just one Talon on our side…we will have two—sort of, almost…maybe,"

"Yeah…it's still really only one," Jason said,

"Maybe it'll get there…or maybe William will die and burn in hell for forever…I really don't care which comes first,"

"Okay then. Murder and fiery deaths aside, you want to get dinner?"

"Sure," Tori said, "Let's go to that Burger joint place in Crime Alley…I love that place." Jason rolled his eyes with a smile as they turned to leave the room. The crumpled note left behind reading in spiky black inked and smudged handwriting:

_WELL PLAYED._  
_MY TURN._


	12. BABYSITTING

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"Oh come on Bruce!" Tori said into her cell phone. She stood in her dorm room pacing impatiently, "I know I've only just started training again and retraining myself not to kill everyone and thing, but practicing in the field will be more beneficial than working in the Cave!" she was getting peckish, she needed to do _something!_ Sure, most of her practices ended with her practically destroying the training robots and heaving in an unusual bloodlust rage…but she felt that if she tried controlling herself in the field, than she wouldn't hurt people because they were _real_ people. Of course there was still the possibility that that wouldn't work at all and she'd end up killing someone…but they wouldn't know unless they tried right?

_"Tori, I said no," _Bruce monotoned through the phone,_ "It's too dangerous to let you out yet. You're still angry about what happened to you and too used to bloodshed and bloodlust,"_

"I am not too used to bloodshed!"

_"Yes you are. You were there to see the carnage that was the training room a few days ago, you were unreasonably angry and had no regard for what happened to the equipment—_the people_—in that room,"_

"And what better way to learn restraint than where—,"

_"—Tori, I said no and that's final!"_

"—but Bruce—!" Tori started only to be interrupted by Jenna marching in her room with a determined but pleading expression on her face,

"I really really really need you to do a favor for me!" she said, pouting a little and making puppy dog eyes. Tori side-glanced her friend,

_"It seems you have something more important to attend to,"_ Bruce said, amusement and satisfaction in his tone,

"No Bruce don't—!" Tori started, "…hang..up—," she stated when all she heard was the ringtone,

"Sorry to interrupt," Jenna added. Tori took a deep breath and faced her friend with a smile,

"So…what's this favor you need me to do?"

"Okay…so my sister's in Gotham with her husband and daughter. They are going out for the evening with my parents and since I have to study for my finals they asked me to babysit until they got back…it's just that Jeff's going to be visiting and he's only here for a few days so I was just wondering if you could babysit for me?" Jenna said in one big hurried mouthful. Tori looked at her friend with a perplexed expression before shrugging,

"Sure. I'll do it,"

"Really?" Jenna asked, perking up,

"I mean it's not my finals I'll be failing since instead of studying you'll be going on a date with your boyfriend…but that's not my call to make," Jenna rolled her eyes,

"I'll be fine. Besides I have you miss encyclopedia brain. Tim too, and Liam,"

"So we're just your textbooks huh?"

"Of course, and I wouldn't have it any other way," Jenna said smirking at Tori,

"Love ya too," Tori said with an eye roll,

"Okay great! See you at seven!" With that Jenna left the room leaving Tori to sigh at the fact that she won't be able to convince Bruce to let her patrol now at all.

* * *

Tori arrived at Jenna's parents' apartment right on time after mentally preparing herself to care for a small child. She could definitely do this…she had two younger siblings afterall. She should be able to handle a little tiny child that is not her sibling…right? Of course she never had to actually babysit any of her siblings, she had older ones and there was Jess. The only thing she ever really did was hold them occasionally and play with them…she was slightly out of practice dealing with kids,

"Hey? Jenna?" Tori called, as she stepped into the room after her friend had hollered that it was opened,

"Over here in the living room!" Jenna called from somewhere beyond the kitchen and dining room. Tori kicked off her boots and hurried through the foreign apartment to where her friend's voice had come from,

"Okay, now I've set up some toys on the floor and a Pack-n-play in here so she'll be fine to just sleep in here. If she cries a lot just take her out and bounce around with her or maybe play, feed or change her. She may fall asleep sooner rather than later but since she knows I'm leaving she might be a bit difficult,"

"Wait…crying? Playing? _Changing?_ Pack-n-play?" Tori asked in confusion, what kind of kid slept in a Pack-n-play?

"Yeah," Jenna said, standing up straight from looking down into the Pack-n-play. Tori walked over and looking into the Pack-n-play to see a little tiny, definitely not a child baby staring up at her a fist in her mouth with a bit curly red fuzz on the top of her head,

"Jenna…that's a _baby_," Tori stated in shock,

"Yeah she's six months…hence the term _babysitting_," Jenna said, "You have younger siblings. I thought you'd have—,"

"—yeah, I know. I mean—I…just…it's been a while and you know...Amnesia,"

"Do you not think you can do it?" Jenna asked visibly deflating,

"I'll be fine—," Tori started,

"Great!" Jenna said perking up again, "I gotta go. Jeff's downstairs and if you need any help call me on my cell! Thanks so much for doing this bye!"

"Wait…how do I—," Tori called to her best friend only to wince slightly as the door slammed loud enough to hurt her sensitive ears. Tori stared down at the baby apprehensively and the baby stared back before screwing its eyes shut and starting to wail.

* * *

Tori let the baby wail for fifteen minutes, hoping it was post-I'm being left with a complete stranger crying and not I'm hungry, need to be fed or changed crying because Tori's skills completely lack in that department. Of course Jenna said the baby might wail for a while before going to sleep…but Tori had her doubts. Eventually Tori couldn't take it anymore, the wailing twisted her heart and call it maternal instincts, but she couldn't just leave the baby so miserable for so long. Tori picked the baby up and started bouncing around the living room awkwardly with her,

"Bloodlust my butt," Tori muttered to herself, still mad at Bruce for benching her. Of course he was totally right that she was not ready at all…but she really wanted to be ready. Tori really wanted to make up for what she had done in London and in Gotham. She had killed a lot of people and she needed to do some good to make up for that. Bruce's process was slow and it was hard, she didn't know if she'd even make it to patrol anytime soon. Tori stopped bouncing the wailing baby and stared out the large balcony windows for a moment before looking at the baby in her arms,

"And you have no idea what monster holds you in her arms," Tori murmured softly to the baby. The baby paused in its crying and looked at her with her head cocked slightly to the side causing Tori to chuckle at its expression, which in turn made the baby laugh,

"Is all you needed a good laugh?" Tori asked. The baby smiled in response, "And that wasn't even a joke," the babe let out a sputtered laugh. Tori couldn't help but smile at the baby before turning back to the Pack-n-play and starting to place the her back in when she started to wail again,

"Oh come on," Tori groaned, pulling the baby back in her arms with a grunt, only for the crying to stop, "Are you hungry?" the baby didn't answer, of course it wouldn't but stranger things have happened in Tori's life. So she started to put the baby back down but it started crying again,

"Okay, I'll put you down and get your bottle just in case," Tori said, placing the baby gently on the little mat with the foamy cloth covered arches rising over it that had little rattles and animals dangling from them before heading to the kitchen and snatching the bottle from the fridge. She then darted back to the living room to find…nothing. Tori's heart froze,

"…Baby?" she asked the room, panic settling in…of course the baby couldn't have sprouted wings and flown out of the apartment in the last five seconds…and the doorway to the balcony was locked, Tori had made sure of that. Tori started rummaging around the living room, frantically pulling up couch cushions and pillows and checking under the coffee table and furniture until a knock on the window caused her to yelp in shock. She whirled to face the window her heart racing expecting to see some psychopathic killer only to find a much more sane killer Jason standing there tapping on the glass. Tori glared at him before opening the door,

"What are you doing here?" she demanded,

"I was swinging by and saw you frantically searching the place. What did you lose?"

"A baby," Tori deadpanned,

"Well—hold up…a _what?_" Tori rolled her eyes impatiently,

"I'm _babysitting_ dummy. Now help me look!" she started back to nearly destroying the furniture to find the baby,

"Tori, calm down. Don't go on a rampage. How old is the baby?"

"Six months," Tori said automatically,

"Then its learned how to roll over," he said, "It'll be on the ground,"

"She,"

"_She_ will be on the ground, not in the couch,"

"And how do you know all this?"

"Trust me when I was Robin and Babs was on patrol with me after she babysat she wouldn't shut up about all these baby facts she'd read. I guess it just stuck,"

"Right," Tori said with an eye roll. She started to turn around only to feel a light nudge on her foot and looked down to see the little baby trying to roll over her foot, "Hello little naughty baby," Tori said picking her up,

"What's her name?" Jason asked, taking his helmet off. Probably to not scare the baby,

"I actually don't know," Tori said, "Jenna left before I could ask,"

"And this baby is her—," Jason started only to trial off unsure of which direction to go,

"Niece,"

"Ah," Jason said,

"Do you want to hold her?"

"No, I don't hold babies…only if I'm rescuing them from a fire," Tori gave him a look before shoving the baby in his arms,

"Hey-what…no…Tori!" Jason groaned as he scrambled to hold the little girl better. Tori just smirked and adjusted his arms so he wouldn't drop her,

"You hold her while I heat up her bottle," and she left before he could complain. When she came back she found Jason sitting on the couch making faces at the baby,

"Her name's Sophia," Jason said,

"Did you just name her or—?" Tori asked, shaking the bottle a little to really mix the formula,

"It was on the tag of her onesie," he replied, taking the bottle from her and began to feed her,

"You're stealing my job mister," Tori said, chuckling as his ears reddened slightly, "I'm just teasing," she added before leaning her head on his shoulder,

"You better not tell anyone about this ever. Especially Tim,"

"What? I can't tell Barbara how her baby facts sunk in so deep you remember them years later? She'd think it's a miracle,"

"Tori," Jason growled,

"I'm kidding. I won't tell a soul," Tori stated rolling her eyes, "…and for the record I find your baby knowledge very hot," it was Jason's turn to roll his eyes,

"Just for that you get to change her diaper later," Tori pouted at him. After she was fed Tori put her on the ground, with a watchful eye on her little mop of hair as she pulled herself into a sitting position to play with the blocks. And then flop down and roll over to a new toy,

"Is it just me or are babies kind of geniuses?" Tori asked as she watch Sophia roll over and grab a stuffed bunny,

"I definitely think they're creative," Jason mused, tilting his head to the side as Sophia tried to pull herself onto the mat with the dangling toys. She hadn't quite learned how to crawl yet so it was a struggle for a while before Tori—who saw that she was about to cry in frustration— got up and helped her onto the mat,

"In anticipation of a smelly diaper, I'm going to figure out where the clean ones are," Tori said, "Jenna didn't exactly explain the layout of the apartment in detail before running off to her boyfriend-I mean leaving." When she returned she found Jason laying on his back with his head under the arches pushing the dangling toys towards Sophie,

"This thing is actually quite entertaining," Jason said by way of explanation. Tori just rolled her eyes and lay down across from him with Sophie's head in the center of their mini triangle,

"Not a word to anyone," Jason said again, as he smacked a dangling moose towards Sophia,

"I promised," Tori said, "But you never said anything about a picture!" she sing-songed before pulling out her phone and snapping a selfie,

"No! Tori!" Jason growled, springing to his feet, "Give me the phone,"

"Nope," Tori said standing and smiling sweetly,

"Tori,"

"No,"

"_Toria_,"

"Nicknames won't save you," Tori said crossing her arms. Jason only looked annoyed, not exactly angry so she didn't see him as much of a threat. Sophia on the other hand didn't like the raised voices and started crying, "Now look what you did," Tori said, "Did the scary man make you cry,"

"I did nothing! This was all you!" Jason cried, which caused Sophia to cry louder,

"I think it's bedtime," Tori said, then sniffing the air and crinkling her nose in disgust, "No, first diaper change then bedtime...damn what was in that formula," she started to walk out of the room but Jason stopped her,

"Phone," he said holding out his hand, his blue green eyes pleading,

"Ugh, you look like a sad baby seal…I can't say no," Tori said placing her phone in his hand, "but good luck guessing my password," she stated, standing on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the cheek before changing Sophia's diaper and putting her in the pack-n-play,

"Touché," Jason said handing the phone back to her, "But I got my revenge by locking you out of your phone for three hours,"

"Ugh! Jason you didn't," Tori groaned,

"I did!" Jason said, snagging a kiss before putting his helmet back on and moving to the balcony, "Have fun!" he called as he leapt from the railing,

"Asshole," Tori muttered, glaring at her phone.


	13. FRUSTRATION

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Tori leapt into the air, striking downwards with her short sword. The world around her was a whirl of colors as she slashed and stabbed and whirled around the criminals she was fighting. Their faces were shadowed, there was no way to identify them if they got away…of course that implied Tori was going to let them get away. She ducked under the knife swipe one of them threw at her and slammed the hilt into his nose and using his leg to throw herself into a back flip to dodge the attack of his fellow friend. She landed behind him and rolled out of the third guy's kick. Springing to her feet she flew into overdrive. Not thinking, just doing. Adrenaline high in her veins she ceased all thought other than making these degenerates pay for what they had done. It didn't matter what they had attempted before Tori fought them, they were all going to be punished.

Tori sprung at them, slashing, swiping, hitting and kicking in a furious onslaught of rage and strength. All control gone from her mind and movements. She acted on impulse and muscle memory. Tori stabbed one guy in the chest, the other she slashed in the leg to slow him down while throwing her dagger into the throat of the third. The fourth guy, who had been hanging back away from the fighting tried to grab her, but she just kicked him in the stomach which sent him sprawling to the ground while the fourth guy hobbled around, keeping his weight on his good leg. Tori ran at him, his face still hidden from her, and slashed with her short sword, severing his head from his body. She then turned to the last guy, still on the ground, heaving for air because of her kick. Her blood was boiling in hot rage, she didn't even know why she was so angry. Tori didn't even know what these men had been doing and for some reason…that fact didn't bother her or dissuade her from her anger. Frankly she didn't care what they had done.

The guy finally got to his feet, Tori smirked at him. She had to admire his determination to beat her. Tori dropped her weapons and flexed her wrists to release her metallic claws before running at him and leaping on him. She slashed at him, tore at his chest with fevered ferocity until a high pitched trilling reached her ears at a painful frequency. She stopped what she was doing, wondering what that noise was until it peaked to a different pitch, a very painful pitch and she clapped her hands over her ears crying out in shock and pain.

Tori fell back on her heels, hands still to her ears as the trilling sound stopped. She blinked her eyes a few times and released her head before turning to glare at the now open door of the simulation room where Bruce was standing looking extremely angry holding a dog whistle. Tori stood up so fast she was sure she blurred slightly at the edges,

"Did you just use a dog whistle on me?" she spat out, anger causing her hands to form fists,

"I've been calling your name for the past two minutes, you weren't responding so I used the only thing I knew would get your attention,"

"Calling my name—?" Tori said, frowning, "Why—," she stopped the question as she glanced around the room. The robots she'd been fighting were scrap metal parts. One beheaded, one with a huge hole in his chest, another with a hole in its neck and the last with its chest cavity torn up into shreds. Tori stared at the mess she made before letting out a yell of anger and frustration. She tore off her gloves and threw them onto the ground,

"This isn't _working_," she snapped, "Every single time no matter what scenario this happens. I lose control and just kill everyone. I destroy things, I hurt people severely. This isn't working Bruce," Bruce didn't say anything, just looked over the sparking robot parts with a thoughtful look on his face. They had been at this for weeks; trying to reeducate Tori in the ways of fighting fairly and with restraint. It hadn't been going well. No matter what she did, no matter what they tried, she always ended up hurting people…even if they were really robots…she tore them apart,

"Why are you so angry?" Bruce asked, walking into the room fully. Tori let out a sigh before shrugging,

"I don't know. I just am," she said, "I don't even remember being this vicious when I killed for the Court…though that whole time period is foggy. I wasn't myself and ever since I decided not to be the Talon Assassin the Court wanted, it's almost been blocked from my memory,"

"What _do_ you remember?" Bruce asked,

"Blood. Lots of it," Tori murmured, "I was a monster. Just what they trained me to be. A cold, dispassionate and void of emotion monster. I didn't even consider whether what I was doing was right or not. I just did what they told me to do," Tori sat back down, drawing her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them,

"Are you angry because of that?" Bruce asked,

"Of course I'm angry they made me kill. I'm angry about almost everything that happened,"

"Are you angry you're alive?" Tori looked at him eyes narrowed,

"No. Why the hell would you even ask that?"

"Then you're not angry at everything," Bruce said, "Are you angry at yourself for saving your brother from the Court?"

"No,"

"What about decreasing the Court's Talons on Founders' Island?"

"No,"

"Freeing the children?"

"Freeing them only to lose them," Tori scoffed, "Why are you asking me these things,"

"I'm trying to understand why you are angry,"

"I don't need you to understand me, I just need you to teach me to control myself," Bruce looked down at her from where he stood directly in front of her and frowned,

"Why do you want to learn so badly? You said you didn't want to become a vigilante. What changed?"

"Didn't you say I shouldn't be afraid of myself?"

"I never said you have to become a vigilante. You could learn through a different means not to fear yourself, there's never only one option when trying to redeem and understand yourself,"

"Are you saying this because I'll never learn control…because I'll forever be a killer?" Tori asked, her heart sinking at the thought,

"No. I'm saying this because you all of a sudden wanted to be a vigilante again," Bruce said with a small smile before frowning again, "Is that what you're afraid of…is that what you're angry about?"

"I've always wanted to help. When I…when I killed those people, I truly thought I was doing the right thing. They were corrupt people, people who'd endangered others and planned to turn Gotham into their own little playground with political and financial power. They were the scientists who ruined my life, as well as others' lives and killed so many people. Deep down I knew that killing them wasn't the right solution…but at the same time I was punishing them for the crimes they committed,"

"We're not executioners," Bruce said, somewhat sternly,

"Not anymore," Tori agreed, nodding stiffly, "Well...some more than others," she added, looking at the robots again,

"You never answered my question," Tori took a deep breath,

"I'm afraid of never being who I once was. I'm afraid I won't learn to control myself and I'm angry because I think I can't be who I was…I'm angry because I will always be that monster. Deep deep down where things can never change, I will always be that monster,"

"Who told you that?" Bruce asked,

"What do you mean?" Tori asked, her mind flashing back to Founders' Island for an instant,

"Who said that nothing changes? You changed your mind didn't you? You chose to take this path and stop being the assassin you were trained to be, so I'm asking you, who said you could never change?"

"What does this have to do with what happened here?" Tori asked, nodding to the still sparking androids,  
"If I find out what is causing such emotional unbalance that is causing you to lose control of yourself, it'll be ten times easier to help you," Bruce said, "Who told you that you can never change?" Tori bit her lip, closing her eyes before saying,

"_'Even though you think you have won, you cannot change who you are in your bones. You will kill again because that is your nature now, nothing will change that.'_" Tori said,

"Who said that?"

"William Cobb," Tori said,

"Well he lied,"

"Really? He lied?" Tori snarked rolling her eyes, "I seem to be missing the evidence you see from this pile of scrap metal," she snapped, gesturing to the metal carcasses,

"They're robots,"

"In the simulation they were people," Tori said,

"Yes, but you can change that. You can make that not happen. What you need to do is figure out the real center of your anger. Once you do that you need to find an anchor. Find something to center yourself so that your anger isn't what drives you or controls your actions,"

"You're just saying that. It's not possible. I'll just forever be this killer," Tori replied shaking her head, "I desecrated that fourth guy and I chopped the first guy's head off,"

"Okay, yes, that was mindless and violent but that was only when you completely lost yourself, when you gave into your anger. Which brings us back to my first question…what are you angry at?"

"I already told you. I don't know! I just am, and it's just an impulse now…like how killing is still an impulse for me. I can't control it, it controls me,"

"That's not true. There's a reason, you just don't want to acknowledge it. You don't want to tell me. But you can trust me, I can help you stop this," Tori bit her lip and looked away from Bruce only to gaze upon the dismantled machines. She let out a frustrated hiss before looking back at Bruce,

"I'm angry at myself. I'm angry for being like this, I'm angry because I _chose_ to become a Talon. I'm angry because it was my decision even though I was dying and I needed to become a Talon to save Cameron. I hate what I've become, and overall I'm angry at the Court for ever forcing me into this situation," she didn't add that she was angry at William for torturing her, but that goes without saying. Bruce nodded as if he expected this answer,

"'To one's enemies: "I hate myself more than you ever could,'" he quoted, "Now, what do you want? Vengeance or justice?"

"Is that really a question? You know what I want,"

"Do I?" Bruce asked, nodding his head towards the robots, "that doesn't look like the work of someone who wants justice,"

"I don't want revenge. I really don't. I want people to get justice, I want the criminals to get what they deserve…but internally, I guess I don't want justice. My training was aimed toward vengeance and violence and an eye for an eye type of crusade," Tori said, "It's wired into me. It's hopeless,"

"It's not. Remind yourself. You are strong and powerful. Every time you feel yourself slip to what you have been trained to do, remind yourself what you truly want. Remember: Justice, not vengeance. Say over and over again to yourself and focus on something that will keep you calm,"

"I-I Think I can do that," Tori said uncertainly,

"I know you can, and you will. You have a good heart and good intentions, the only thing that's in your way is yourself,"

"Okay. I'll try," Tori said, letting out a huff of a breath, "Are we done for today?"

"Yes, we're done for the day. But I expect improvement tomorrow. I don't want any lethal strikes and I want you to be completely in control and centered. I know you can do it, you are not a Talon that William believes to just be a killer. You're more than that,"

"Okay Mr. Inspirational Speaker," Tori said rolling her eyes and getting to her feet. She turned to leave before stopping herself, "Oh, can I see the whistle?" she asked, facing Bruce again. With a questioning look he tossed her the metal whistle. Tori in turn, crumpled it in her hand before tossing it back to him,

"_Never_ use that on me again. _Ever_." She said giving him a deadly glare before leaving the room and slamming the door shut.


	14. CAUGHT

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"This is entirely your fault," Damian hissed from Tori's left in Arabic. Tori let out a sigh, which blew some stray hairs from her face before side glaring him. She shifted slightly, testing the ropes that bound her to a chair before responding in the same language,

"How is this my fault?" she demanded,

"If you hadn't messed up my project, we wouldn't have been out so late and this would have never happened," he said his mini tirade so fast Tori had to wait a minute translating what he said in her head before replying with a bite in her tone,

"Oh, so it's my fault you decided to set off the miniature volcano when I specifically said _not_ to! Which then caused us to have to redo the whole entire thing!"

"You were unclear,"

"I said wait until the day it's due to erupt it. What's unclear about that?" Damian was silent for a second,

"Shut up," he snapped. Tori rolled her eyes,

"You just wanted to see it explode didn't you?"

"Shut _up_,"

"And you didn't have to ask me for help, there were plenty of other people in the house…not only that, why did you even need help?" Damian gritted his teeth as he tried breaking the rope that ensnared his wrists to no avail,

"The assignment specifically said with a family member. Pennyworth was busy, father was at a meeting, Grayson was off with Gordon and I was not going to ask Drake, the person I tolerate the least for help,"

"Aww, you tolerate me!" Tori said with a smirk,

"Slightly more than Drake...oh shut up," Damian growled when Tori chuckled at what he said and at his anger before wincing as a gun fired off to her right,

_"SHUT UP!"_ one of the thugs that had managed to snag them yelled, the tip of his gun smoking, "I don' know what the hell you saying to each other. But I don' like it, so shut the hell up!"

"That was a waste of a bullet," Tori remarked, knowing that the boss of this gang or organization or whatever she and Damian had stumbled upon would want answers and usually the snarliest person was picked for the interrogation. Not that she didn't doubt Damian's skills, but she was a bit more durable than the human Boy Wonder,

"Excuse me?" the thug said,

"What if you needed it later," Tori continued, as if oblivious to the obvious danger the guy held in his hand,

"Shut the hell up you little bitch,"

"Ohh, the b-word. Clever," Tori said smirking at the thug, who stomped over and placed the muzzle of the gun on her forehead,

"One more word. I dare you," he snarled, some spittle flying on her face. Tori bit her tongue to keep herself from saying anything. A gun at this close range would kill a Talon. While at a distance they do little to no damage no one, not even a Talon, can function with their brains splattered against the walls. The thug slowly smiled at her sudden silence before pulling the gun away,

"Not so mouthy now huh? Bitch," Tori rolled her eyes, but still remained silent, "Now. Are either of you going to say how you found us?"

"We don't even know what 'this' is," Damian said speaking up for the first time,

"Yeah, we seriously don't. We literally stumbled into this place. There was a crack on the glass of your skylight," Tori said, nodding her chin up to the ceiling where she and Damian had fallen through. The guy stared at Tori and Damian, both with blank faces before shaking his head,

"Nah, don't believe it,"

"Seriously. They don't believe the actually truth," Tori muttered in Arabic, much to the annoyance of their captor,

"At least they're not naive," Damian replied,

"Stop it with the other language," the guy yelled, "Or I'm going to kill one of you!"

"Been there, done that," Tori said breezily, causing Damian to let out a snort of laughter,

"That's it," the guard yelled, "Eanie. Meanie. Miney: _you_," he grabbed Tori by the back of the chair and started to drag her from where she had been placed next to Damian,

"Whoa, we were seriously telling the truth!" She stated as he continued to drag her to the center of the room where his friends stood waiting for orders with various weapons,

"I know," he stated, stopping his dragging and spinning Tori around on one leg of the chair at a time before letting her rock to a stop with her back to Damian, "I just figured you had useful information," he motioned for one of his cronies, who stepped forward and offered him a crowbar which he took,

"Information on what?" Tori asked, eyeing the weapon with a raised eyebrow,

"Like who Batman is. Where he lives, where he works, who's his family. Things that can be advantageous when the time arises,"

"You think I would know those things?" she asked,

"You're his partner aren't you?" the thug said, not waiting for a response he raised his 'interrogation tool' in the air, "Anything you wish to confess right now?"

"It's more of a question really: why do all villains, or thugs, whatever you are, use crowbars. Is it a preference? Does it make you feel better about yourself or is it just because it's the most accessible thing around—?" Tori didn't get to finish her sentence as the crowbar came down on her side. It connected with a loud SMACK. Tori just looked up at the guy with a bored expression,

"…ow?" she said uncertainly, causing the guy to turn red. He swung again and again, each blow hard and strong but with no cry of pain from Tori. Sure, her body was reacting. It was bruising and the bones were breaking, but she didn't feel it. They were healing just as quickly as he made them too, which caused Tori to squint her eyes and look at the ground so they wouldn't see her blue eyes, which were still covered by her silver masquerade like mask but with the eye holes cut out, change to gold—the color that indicated she was healing—they would be suspicious and ask questions…or worse, move on from her to Damian to get the answers about her that they wanted. Tori was cut off from her internal worries when the thug that was hitting her let out a ferocious roar and rammed the pointy end of the crowbar into her stomach. It wasn't a deep stab, it didn't hit the back of the chair, but he also didn't pull it out either. That meant the wound wouldn't heal unless he pulled it out.

Tori glared up at him. He was panting at the effort and because of anger. His hand was inching towards his gun shoved in the belt loop of his pants. It was clear he wanted to just shoot her, but his embarrassment at not being able to evict a simple scream from her was enough to convince him to try a different weapon. He grabbed a bat from the nearest goonie,

"Who is Batman?" He questioned, raising the bat,

"Chuck Norris," Tori snarked. The bat fell across her shins. They fractured, but healed just the same…slower due to the crowbar still in place, which was still bleeding thanks to not being taken out yet,

"Wrong answer. Let's try another—,"

"—you really suck at interrogating people. What kind of interrogator switches to a new question without an answer for the first question?" The bat fell again, this time at her head. Tori briefly saw stars and let out a whoosh of air from the unexpected blow,

"Where does he live?" He was getting agitated now, and likely to change his mind on who he would torture to get the answers he wanted. Tori needed to quit toying with these guys and end this,

"P. Sherman Forty Two Wallaby Way, Sydney," Tori replied smirking. With a roar of frustration he moved to strike her again, "Do you know what the definition of insanity is?" Tori stated, causing him to pause his swing, "Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results…which I guess is ironic considering that's all the Bat and the partners ever do, but that's besides the point—,"

"—Listen here—,"

"—No you listen. Why don't you ask a proper question, one that will help you tiny little brain understand why what you're doing isn't working. Why don't you ask what I am?"

"What you ar—what kind of stupid ass—,"

"—Ask it," Tori interrupted, eyes still trained on the ground,

"What are you, there, you happy? Are you gonna answer _my_ questions now?"

"No. I'm going to ask you another question. Do you see a Bat anywhere on my suit? Anywhere at all?"

"…No…"

"Now put it together. If I'm not a Bat, what am I?" Tori stated, finally looking him right in the eyes as her eyes undoubtedly flashed gold as the bruise and cut from the bat healed on her cheek and forehead,

"A _Talon_," the guy whispered with his voice filled with terror,

"Not a Talon, _The_ Talon," she stated, glaring at him with golden flashing eyes. Tori smirked and flexed her arms, snapping the ropes that held her and leapt at him.

The fight was over within minutes, the thugs and followers all strewn across the floor. Some bleeding more than they probably should, others on the floor unconscious next to grown men sized craters in the brick walls. Tori sheathed her heavily blunted blades, Bruce insisted that if she were going out to have them blunted at least until she had more control over herself, and reached to pull the crowbar out. Once out, with a spurt of blood, it healed leaving only a hole in her suit,

"How he got that crowbar through I'll never know," Tori muttered, "This suit was supposed to be armored,"

"It is you idiot, he just managed to strike where two plates of armor met," Damian snapped from where he sat still tied up,

"You know. I could just leave you tied up there,"

"And you know you could have taken those guards ages ago. What prevented you from doing so?" Damian snapped, as he wriggled in his bonds—as he had been for the past fifteen minutes—and finally grabbed a batarang and cut his bonds. He marched over to her and all but growled his next retort, "Why let them beat you?"

"I wanted to see if they were related to Mac," Tori said stiffly, "If they did, they would have known I was a Talon sooner if not right away…though you are right, I definitely should have ended this sooner. I'm starving now. Healing takes energy," Damian pursed his lips, as if contemplating what to say,

"That was indeed a very foolish thing to do. I hope you wouldn't do something so idiotic if you were human,"

"Please, I'm silly, not suicidal. Besides I also did what I did so they wouldn't choose you to interrogate,"

"Tt. I've been trained to handle any kind of interrogation, violent or not,"

"Of course you have," Tori muttered, rolling her eyes. Silence reigned for a moment before Damian spoke again,

"There is an ice cream shop nearby that Grayson is particularly fond of…they've always opened their doors for us in the past, perhaps since you need nourishment we could go there instead of immediately finding father," Tori looked over at the eleven year-old kid, eyebrow raised, before grinning at him,

"That sounds perfect."


	15. ICE SKATING

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"I don't remember how to do this," Tori complained as Dick tied the laces on her borrowed ice skates. She sat on the bench with her arms crossed bundled up to the point of being an abominable marshmallow…in her opinion,

"You won't know that if you don't try," Dick said, "Trust me, you'll remember,"

"Did I ever go ice skating before I lost my memory?"

"Um…not that I know of,"

"Then how do you know that!"

"You're a fast learner," Tim supplied helpfully, he was standing by the iced over lake near the grounds of Wayne Manor. No one really knew whether the lake was on Bruce's property or not, but no one had told them to leave yet so they come every winter. Or at least that's what they told Tori, she never remembered ice skating at Wayne Manor or in general,

"Fast learner my ass. That's what you said about Mario Kart, and I lost ten times!"

"Well…to your credit I had hacked the game before we even started playing—,"

"—you ass!" Tori cried, reaching for the snow to make a snowball and lobbed it at him before he could run away—which was hard to do in ice skates—he did turn away though so it hit him on the shoulder,

"Quit squirming Tor," Dick muttered. Tori rolled her eyes before glancing over at the lake. The sky was dull and grey, the cold already seeping through her many layers. After becoming a Talon she never really seemed to get truly warm, as horrible as it sounds. The lake had had a thin covering of snow before Jason, Dick and Tim had scraped it off with shovels. Now Damian and Jason, who had gotten their skates on as quick as possible, were playing hockey and it looked like Jason was winning if his mini victory dance was any indication,

"Okay, all set," Dick said standing up, "Let's do this," Tori nodded determinedly and stood up. She took one step and nearly fell over, thankfully Dick was there and she grabbed onto him,

"Nope, I don't want to do this. I'm going back inside," she said, moving to sit back down only to be stopped by Tim,

"Tori, we haven't even gotten on the ice yet,"

"Yeah. I'm good, I can go my whole entire life without learning how to ice skate. I'll be fine," Tori said, tugging her arm out of Tim's grasp and sitting on the bench,

"Are you guys going to come?" Jason called twirling his hockey stick in his hand while Damian made obscene gestures behind his back,

"We're having some technical difficulties in the form of a scared Talon," Dick replied,

"I am not scared!" Tori replied, which was a lie…that ice did not look sturdy enough for five people…no it did not. That water would freeze her, she did not want that, not at all,

"C'mon Tori, give it a try," Dick said,

"No," Tori said, crossing her arms and turning her head haughtily,

"Okay, fine…then you leave us no choice," Tim said, a smirk in his voice. Tori frowned, what were they planning? No sooner had she wondered was her question answered. Arms grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her into the arm. She let out a loud scream, to her embarrassment as Jason, who had climbed up the mini hill to where the bench was and picked her up,

"Jason! Put me down right now!" Tori cried, as he set off down the hill, Dick and Tim snickering after them, "Oh my God! Don't fall! Don't fall don't you dare fall!"

"He's not going to fall Tori," Dick said as they reached the lake, "He played hockey back in middle and high school. He practically lived on the ice,"

"Okay Tori," Jason said, a smirk in his voice, he was still walking, "I'm going to put you down," as he did, Tori's feet slid out right from under her and she landed on her butt. He had put her down on the ice!

"I don't like this," Tori stated, as cold seeped through her rear-end,

"Tt, get over it and quit complaining. If you don't like it do something about it," Damian said as he skated by, dodging a hockey puck Tim 'accidentally' shot at him,

"Come on Tori. Stand up," Jason said,

"I can't,"

"Get on your knees," Tori, with an eye roll, complied,

"And…?"

"Hands on ice, hop up onto your skates,"

"It'll break,"

"No it won't,"

"Yes it will," Tori said, slight panic in her voice,

"Toria, look," Jason said as he skated a few feet and jumped into the air. He landed and the ice stayed unbroken, "see, still fully together," Tori sighed but did as he said. She hobbled for a moment before accidentally taking a step and started flailing with her feet trying to stand upright. Jason grabbed her by the arms and steadied her,

"Relax, it's just step and glide, step and glide. You're over thinking this," Tori glared at him. He just rolled his eyes and took her hands and started skating backwards around he lake, pulling her along until she sort of got the hang of it. Then he only held one hand,

"See you're getting better already!" Dick said gleefully, narrowly dodging a puck sent by Damian, "Hey! We said no head shots!"

"Tt,"

"Okay, ready to try by yourself," Tori held onto his hand tighter,

"No!"

"Okay, on three—,"

"Jason I said no—!"

"—one, two…three!" he used his hand to push her forward to give her some momentum as she soared forward. At first she panicked, then she remembered what to do and finally she realized she was ice skating! She was doing it! The cold air whipped through her hair and she just felt like she was almost flying. She couldn't help it, she let out a laugh and—

—face-planted into a snow pile as soon as she realized she didn't know how to turn as she neared the edge of the lake. Pushing herself up and shivering from the cold she ignored the boys laughter as much as humanly possible. She felt so embarrassed, though she doubted she was warm enough for her face to flame with embarrassment like it should at the moment. Tori instead unlaced her skates right there and then, kicked them off and marched back up to the bench oblivious to the numbness that was spreading through her feet, ankles and partway up her legs and shoved her boots back on. Tori then marched back towards the Manor, yelling down to the still laughing boys,

"I AM NEVER ICE SKATING AGAIN!"

Too bad they forced her to the next weekend and this time until she got turning down.


	16. MIDNIGHT MAC N' CHEESE

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Tori lurched awake, shock and surprise forcing the tiredness she had felt from training that day away, eyes snapping around her dark and foreboding room with the shadows of the trees surrounding the manor dancing across the walls. Talking a deep breath and sitting up fully in bed she drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She stayed like that for a moment, trying to ease her heart rate and breathing. It was spring break, and rather than going somewhere loud and wild and crazy like every other college goer, Tori and Tim had decided to stay at home and train and protect Gotham. Liam had gone back to London, but said he was coming back to stay for the rest of the break they had. He and Arthur did not get along at all. It had been a great. Not too hot, not too cold, and the trees were budding again.

Gotham seemed lighter in the spring and summer, unlike in winter when everything was dark and sinister and cold…very very cold. Tori was excited for the warmer months, though she'll always love the colder ones the most even if she can't enjoy them as much as she used to. She took another deep breath and ran a hand through her tangled hair, trying to ignore the creak of the trees blowing in the wind outside. Wayne Manor was loud, every sound vibrated through its wide open and empty-ish halls. Tori took another deep breath and tried to recall what had woken her so abruptly. Was it a nightmare or a memory? Squeezing her eyes shut she tried to remember but came up with nothing. She let out a sigh, of course Dr. Leslie said that there was a chance the even though her mind wasn't being wiped every time she gained a memory, it was so used to not remembering everything that some thoughts, or ideas or old old memories would slip away. Not completely, it just might be harder to recall things, memories or dreams specifically, as easily as she used to. A side affect of Mac's meddling with her mind.

Tori took another deep breath before lying down and fumbling about her bed trying to find her teddy bear and a knitted white blanket Liam had found under her old bed in the Penthouse when they went back to retrieve their things before moving out. Ali had been the first to remember why it was there, it was a blanket Jess had knitted for Tori when she'd been born. Both Liam and Grant had their own and of course had grown out of sleeping with it, as did Ali and Cameron. Tori, who hadn't really remembered Jess found herself sleeping with it even more as if to remember their nannie as she had been: alive and well and not dead. The blanket itself was ripped and rethreaded and on the verge of being completely destroyed, but she still slept with it nonetheless.

Once she found it she laid down and closed her eyes trying to go to sleep only for her eyes to snap open as a creak echoed through the manor…on the stairs. Tori lay frozen in bed, wondering what that had been…she lay there for a while not wanting to move from her room and wanting to actually sleep that night instead of lying awake wondering what it had been that had woken her up. Finally, she decided to get up and find whoever…or whatever was walking around the house.

Tori wandered down to the first floor of the Manor, silently. She wandered past the living room and dining room to the kitchen, where one over head light above the island counter was shining through the crack of the swinging door. Lightly pushing it open she looked in to find,

"Tim?" Tori stated surprised. Tim started and whirled around, only to relax at the sight of Tori standing in the doorway, "What are you doing up? And why are you in the kitchen?" Tim smiled sheepishly before reaching behind him and pulling out a familiar blue box,

"I'm making Mac N' Cheese," he said,

"At midnight?" Tori asked, coming over and glancing at the clock on the stove,

"Yup," Tim said as he poured the pasta in the now boiling water, popping the 'p'. He had clearly been down here long enough for the water to boil,

"Why?" she asked. Tim frowned, he was silent for a while and just stirred the water,

"I couldn't sleep," was all he said. Tori nodded mutely. He had had a nightmare, just like her…though she bet he could actually remember it,

"Neither can I," Tori said,

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Do you?" Tori shot back, arching an eyebrow,

"Nope," Tim said, yet again popping the 'p', "grab the colander would you. And all the other ingredients,"

"Yes chef," Tori muttered with an eye roll. She crouched down to get the colander, only to cringe as five other bowls, thankfully metal, tumbled out and onto the floor,

"Are you trying to wake Alfred?" Tim hissed, "The only reason I have this box is because I hid it from him…he hates these kinds of foods,"

"Sorry! I didn't know they'd all fall," Tori hissed back, placing the colander in the sink and moving to grab the milk and butter from the kitchen. Tim rolled his eyes before rubbing them tiredly, "How long had you been up before coming down here?" she found herself asking when she realized just how tired her brother looked,

"Two…three hours maybe," he muttered, lifting the pot and pouring its contents into the colander,

"Are you okay?" Tori asked. Tim shrugged,

"It's just been a bad week," was all he said, dumping the pasta back in the pot and adding butter to it, "My mother died this week," Tori felt her heart sink slightly,

"I'm sorry," she said,

"I know," he replied, "Whenever I was upset she'd make me Mac N' Cheese. It was the only thing she knew how to make…and the only time I got to spend time with her when no one else was around. They were, afterall, working all the time and leaving me with nannies like Maud did with you lot,"

"Well…we had one nanny," Tori murmured, not really sure what to say,

"I happen to be starving," she added as Tim finally added the cheese, grinning at her brother, "and that Mac n' Cheese smells delicious," footsteps padded lightly behind them,

"Hello Damian," Tim said, not bothering to look behind him,

"Tt," came the tired response. Tori turned to face Bruce's son to see tired steel grey eyes, a disgruntled expression and wildly messy hair,

"Can't sleep too?" she asked, Damian didn't give her a response, just slid into a seat at the island counter and glared at the two of them,

"Don't bother with him," Tim said, "He won't say a thing until he eats,"

"Is this a common occurrence?" Tori asked,

"We don't exactly have consistent sleep schedules, no matter how hard Bruce tries. Sometimes we can sleep through the night…other times we can't,"

"And when we can't. We have midnight Mac N' Cheese," Damian growled tiredly,

"Yum," Tori said simply as Tim spooned the meal into three bowls and they all sat down and silently ate their midnight meal. They didn't talk about what had woken them up in the midst of the night and they didn't need to. There was just blissful silence and peaceful munching on pasta. It was nice to be included in a ritual of habit, and it was great to be doing it with her brother and the demon even if he was grumpy.


	17. JUST A MUNDANE DAY

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Tori sighed in complete happiness as she dipped her feet into the pool from her sunny spot on the ground. Sunglasses on, bikini under a cute cover up and lying on a towel,

"I am so glad Bruce's business summit was in Turks and Caicos," she said as she reached for her strawberry daiquiri, "And he had to bring us with him because Dick and Babs were on their honeymoon and Alfred was in London,"

"I know right?" Tim said from where he sat in the shade on a lounge chair. They had a private house right around the corner from the summit building and right by the beach. They, Tori, Tim and Damian, had been there all day with the other families of employees also on the trip, but the children had been too rowdy. Most of them were younger than Tori, Tim and Damian as well as quite a hassle to mange. Bruce was at the summit dealing with business things. They had left the beach shortly after one kid stole Tim's kindle and nearly tossed it in the ocean. Now they were lounging around the house doing absolutely nothing, "Though…that leaves only Stephanie to look after Gotham,"

"I'm shocked Bruce hasn't flown back by now. Did he even realize that?"

"Maybe he called some Justice League members to help out,"

"Or the Birds of Prey," Tori added,

"Or maybe Jason's around…is he around?" Tim asked, Tori shrugged,

"To be honest at the moment he's a bit MIA,"

"…and you're not worried about that?" Tim asked incredulously,

"Naw…well maybe a little…but he's been gone longer than this before," she replied, slurping away at her drink, "I'll give it three more days and then I'll freak out a bit,"

"Where's Damian?" Tim asked after a moment, realizing that the kid wasn't anywhere near the pool, "He's not in the house is he?"

"I think he's still at the beach," Tori said, sitting up slightly to look towards the gate that lead to the wooden walkway to the beach, "Yup. He's there. I think he's considering going in,"

"He's never been to a beach before has he?"

"How would I know. You're the one who actually lived with him," Tori said. Tim sighed, sitting up in his lounger,

"I'll go get him,"

"Don't go now, only go if he drowns,"

"Really?"

"He's fine, he knows how to swim,"

"True. I've seen him swim," Tim said settling back down into his chair and picking up his kindle again. They sat in silence for a few moments. Just the crashing waves beyond the dunes and the cawing of seagulls overhead to add to the fresh sea air and cloudless sky. They lay where they were for so long that Tori almost nodded off before a thought occurred to her,

"You know, this may be the most mundane day for me in almost a year?" Tori asked,

"Really?" Tim asked,

"I can't think of a time where I'd been more relaxed than I am now," she said, wiggling her toes in the pool's water,

"That's good," Tim said, "You deserve—," whatever he was going to say next was cut off by angry stomping and the gate of the fence slamming open,

"Where the _HELL_ were you guys!?" Damian yelled. Tori and Tim both looked at him before simultaneously raising an eyebrow at his current appearance. Damian was covered in sand and seaweed. He had scratches all over his chest from shells and the sand and quite a few jellyfish stings,

"What happened to you?" Tim asked,

"I went in that God damned ocean that's what!" Damian yelled, stomping towards the doorway to the house, "Only for it to pull me so far down the coast that the lifeguard nearly had to come and get me out himself!"

"Ohh…that's right. The current's strong today. Shit. Sorry Damian. If we had known we would have stayed," Tori said,

"Speak for yourself," Tim muttered,

"You're the one who was going to go and get him," Tori replied, giving her brother a pointed look. Tim flushed slightly and glared at Tori who stuck her tongue out at him,

"I'm telling father of your negligence!" Damian yelled at them as he slammed the door,

"Shit! Let's help him that way we can say we didn't just stand here laughing," Tim said scrambling to get up,

"Speak for yourself," Tori replied, stirring around the mini umbrella in her drink,

"Remember, you're the one who said 'oh he'll be fine! He knows how to swim!" Tim stated, "I'm sure Bruce wouldn't be thrilled to hear that," he then hurried inside. Tori lay there a minute before leaping to her feet,

"I'm coming!" she cried.

Even with a whining eleven year old and the annoyance of dealing with jellyfish stings, it had actually been the most mundane day in Tori's life since returning to Gotham, and for that one day—plus the rest of the summit days—she was immensely grateful.


	18. FAMILY FUN

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"This is a bad idea," Tori stated from where she stood with her arms crossed,

"No it's not!" Ali said, jumping up and down slightly on the trampoline, "Lighten up!"

"Yeah Tor-Tor," Dick said from where he stood a little bit off to the side from where Ali was jumping, "Lighten up,"

"She's never done anything like this before," Tori said. She stood at the edge of the trampoline. The three were at a trampoline park in London. Dick had finally found time to come and visit his second cousins and Dick being Dick as well as Ali being Ali decided it would be fun if they could all go together, she and Cameron didn't have school because of the London Bank holiday, which Tori really wished America had. Of course Arthur had to work and Cameron was grounded for some unknown reason, so they didn't come. Liam had flat out refused to come and instead stayed at Gotham University. They didn't have a break per se, it was more that there had been an explosion at the school, completely unrelated to Tori, Dick, Tim or Stephanie…but it had been caused by some evil nasty little pyromanic Talons out for Tori's—no Talon's—head. It did cause classes to be cancelled for at least two weeks for damage repairs, which was fine with Tori. She had five exams during those two weeks and was glad she didn't have to take them. They had found a nice quiet section of the tramp park to practice gymnastics and acrobatics without the screaming little kids to annoy them,

"You may not remember but we were in the same gymnastics class for a while," Ali stated haughtily,

"I was in level one and you were just taking lessons…you didn't like it," Tori replied,

"I never said that!"

"Then why did you quit?"

"—shut up," Dick let out a laugh,

"Tori it'll be fine. I'm spotting her,"

"And he's the best in the whole world!"

"Yeah, I'm the best in the whole world," he repeated, smiling widely. He was clearly enjoying being hero worshiped—in more ways than one—by his little cousin. Tori glared at them for a moment longer before rolling her eyes and letting out a long sigh,

"Fine. But I will be saying I told you so by the end of the day,"

"Yeah right," Ali and Dick said in perfect sync with an eye roll of their own. Dick knelt behind Ali, who raised her hands above her head,

"Okay, so you're gonna almost sit back like you're sitting in a chair but you're going to arc your back instead. When you land on your hands keep them straight and snap your legs over as soon as your arms touch the tramp," Ali nodded determinedly,

"On three?" she asked, and Dick nodded as he placed his hand a little away from her lower back, ready to help her through the back handspring,

"One…two…three!" he said. Ali did the back handspring a little sloppily, Tori almost snickered as her sister landed and stumbled slightly. Only almost, she remembered learning back handsprings and how difficult they seemed at first…of course she had been eight when she learned how to do the handspring not almost fourteen,

"That was good," Dick said brightly, "Let's do it again, you're used to what it feels like to land so you'll actually rebound a little," Ali beamed and stood back in her start position before executing another back handspring, this time rebounding a little at the end,

"Yay!" she cried clapping as she jumped up and down on the trampoline,

"Soon you'll be able to do a back tuck out of a back handspring or a full twist," Dick said. Tori coughed to hide her snicker, though Ali heard it,

"What?" Ali demanded angrily, "You don't think I could do that?" Dick shot Tori a glare and Tori back tracked,

"No, it's just he's being a little ambitious, you're not going to learn that in a day. I didn't learn how to do a back handspring back tuck till I was twelve…almost thirteen. You'll need to practice and sadly Dick and I can't come up here every week,"

"I bet I could master a back handspring today and then work up to a back handspring back tuck or full twist on my own!"

"Well—," Dick started,

"—I could do that couldn't I?" Ali asked him hopefully,

"Of course. I mean if you want to you could probably find a teacher to teach you or maybe one of your friends does gymnastics…it's just you shouldn't practice on your own or without a spotter unless you're a professional," Ali seemed to deflate slightly,

"But I could still get the back handspring down right?"

"Totally," Tori said, "I bet you could get it down in a few more tries. You just need to arc your back a little more,"

"And keep your arms straight," Dick said, "Let's try again." While they worked on back handsprings, Tori went to her own little corner to work on some things she wanted to do. She did some simple things like a front handspring front layout. And then a back handspring full twist. Then a front tuck, back tuck, back handspring. Tori was tempted to try her tumbling pass for floor but that required running and she didn't think the supervisors would be too pleased about that, they had been glaring at Dick, Tori and Ali since they walked into the trampoline park. If Tori weren't in London she'd assume they were Talons sent to kill her, but since she was in London, she didn't give them a second glance. Tori smiled and moved to start another front handspring…

* * *

….annnnnnddd five minutes later found herself in the hospital glaring at Dick. Dick was looking anywhere but Tori and shifted from foot to foot guilty,

"In my defense that kid needed his dodgeball back," Tori just growled at him, "He was being cornered and I only turned my back for a second!" Tori growled again,

"She didn't break anything!" Tori growled a third time before smiling at him. Dick looked shocked, suspicious and slightly scared at the same time, "Are you not mad anymore?"

"Dick—,"

"—yeah?"

"I told you so." Dick groaned and flopped his face in his hands,

"I'm the worst cousin ever,"

"Nah, Ali was just stubborn and determined to prove she could master the back handspring. It wasn't your fault she was too impulsive,"

"Arthur's going to kill me,"

"Nah…he's at work. I'm sure Ali will just tell him it was her own fault, since it was her fault. You specifically said not to practice without a spotter and she practiced without a spotter,"

"True,"

"Yes, very. Besides all she did was sprain it,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I would've heard the crack and be fifty times madder at you," Dick nodded before glancing at her,

"So you _are_ mad?"

"Well I wasn't mad but then you asked me ten times if I was and now I am,"

"Really?" Dick asked frowning,

"No not really, just somewhat annoyed that you managed to send my sister to the hospital by _helping_ someone else,"

"Oh okay that's a relief," Dick said, "I thought you were going to punch me in—," Tori's arm came up and slammed into his stomach, "—right there…oh God…I'm dying. My spleen has ruptured and my appendix burst—," he moaned as he crumpled to his knees,

"Oh come on, you are such a baby I did not hit you that hard!"

"—I can see the light!"

"Get up!" Tori snapped,

"Grandma…is that you?"

"People are looking at us!"

"You should have thought of that before you killed me," Tori rolled her eyes at his antics before Ali walked out of the room she'd been taken to with her arm in a flexible cast,

"What's wrong with him?" she asked,

"I punched him,"

"Awww, you do care,"

"Shut up," Tori slightly snapped,

"Wanna get ice cream?"

"Yes!" Dick said jumping up and pulling out his rental car keys. Tori and Ali both shared an eye roll and a smirk before following him out. Of course going to the hospital had not been a walk in the park…the smell and feel of being in one again causing some anxiety for Tori but not enough for a full panic attack…but it had still been a great day nonetheless.


	19. NOT A WALK IN THE PARK

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"Bananas,"

"Baked Ziti,"

"Cake,"

"Mix,"

"Together,"

"Forever,"

"Running,"

"Together,"

"Sucks!" cried Stephanie, "I…know….I fight thugs….at night…without…huffing and…puffing…like a dog," she stopped to pull in some air, "But Jesus! I can't keep up with you!"

"Welll," Tori started, "I was on the track team at school, and the soccer team, and the gymnastics team…plus that was before…you know," Tori waved her hand through the air to indicate her point. It was a bright sunny day in Gotham for a change. Tori and Stephanie decided to go for a run in Hyde Park. The park, if they ran the perimeter, is at least six miles. So in other words a very good long run. They'd been playing word games for the time they'd been running which had just morphed into them saying whatever random word made sense in the moment,

"If only Liam were here, head be yelling at you to run faster," Tori said brightly as they continued along the edge of the park. Children ran around the grassy field, climbing trees and rocks or playing on the playground near the center of the park. People threw frisbees to their dogs or walked them around the park while some people sat on benches reading papers or watching their children—parents had to be mindful at parks in Gotham—as they played. Others did their own laps around the park,

"Shut up!" Stephanie groaned, "Why….why did I…agree to this?"

"Just keep talking," Tori said, slowing down slightly…she was going a little fast, "I know running with me isn't a walk in the park—" Stephanie let out a laugh, "—what?"

"Walk…in the…park," she said still giggling, "We're in…a park," Tori rolled her eyes

"Yes Miss Literal," Tori muttered, glancing over at her friend, which resulted in disaster as she plowed straight into some poor sap walking their dog. Tori and the person tumbled to the ground in a tangle of arms, leg and hair as well as dirt and got into an even messier tangle as she tried to disentangle herself and get to her feet,

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry…are you okay" Tori asked, leaning down and grabbing the person's arm. She yanked them to their feet—a little harder than necessary; Talon strength—only to stumble back in shock, _"Paxton?"_ she gasped,

"Ohh crappers," Stephanie whispered. Indeed it was Paxton Powers. The guy who had a huge crush on Tori back when they were in Middle and some of High school. Who Tori had dumped for Jason—without him knowing really—and who Tori had forgotten along with all her other past boyfriends, not that she had that many. Who she had avoided so well while she was at school because he was obnoxious and still had a thing for her and she just in general didn't like him. It also didn't help that his family was known for being part of corrupt and dishonest means of making money for themselves at the expense of others. Batman had almost gotten Paxton's father in jail several times but the snake just slid through the cracks,

"Vicky?" Paxton asked, raising an eyebrow. Tori cringed, no wonder she didn't like him, no one ever called her that,

"Paxton, for the billionth time, call me Tori," she said,

"I'm surprised you even remember the  
nine hundred and ninety-nine million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine times you've told me that before," Paxton said snidely as he dusted himself off. He looked pretty much the same. Except maybe taller and a little broader in the shoulders. The same dark beady eyes and the black hair and the stupid straight pointy nose. Tori didn't know why she said yes to going out with him back before she started dating Jason,

"Did you go to Harvard?" she asked crossing her arms,

"I had a week off and thought I visit my parents," he replied as his dog sniffed around their feet,

"Well we've just been going on a run," Tori said. Silence reigned,

"So you're Drake's half-sister,"

"Yup,"

"Any fortune left for the bastard daughter?" he asked, smiling. It might have been a joke but it just made Tori bristle in anger,

"No," she said through gritted teeth, "He never knew about me,"

"Too bad," Paxton said, trying to sound sympathetic,

"Yeah,"

"So there's a charity gala. Are you two attending?"_ Oh hell no,_ Tori thought, _he is not getting a date out of Steph or me!_

"Yes we're going. No we're not going with you," she stated flatly, "Try looking for prissy prizes elsewhere," Stephanie let out a laugh but tried to disguise it as a laugh,

"I wasn't—,"

"—Yeah. Whatever Paxy. Bye!" with that said Tori grabbed Stephanie's arm and started running,

"You know you're going to pay for that in some way later right?" Stephanie asked as they gained more distance,

"Whatever. I've had enough of that prick for a lifetime,"

"He'll keep showing up like a bad penny and you know it,"

"Oh shut up!"

"Definitely not a walk in the park," Stephanie said grinning impishly. Tori growled at her and sprinted on ahead forcing Stephanie to sprint harder than she should to keep up. She smirked, ignoring her friend's cry to slow down.


	20. HOSPITAL VISIT

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Tori stared at the doors to the building uncertainly. She didn't want to go in. She felt like her feet wouldn't move, like they were cement. It was the first time she'd actually been to the Gotham Hospital since returning to Gotham. Her heart beat faster at even the thought of going to any hospital. This was where Penny Avalon died in her place, this is where her life supposedly ended…and she had to visit her friend here now. Not because she was in a life threatening situation, but for moral support and to keep her company,

"You don't have to go in," Stephanie said to her. They had been standing at the entrance for the past ten minutes,

"Yeah. I'm sure Jenna will understand," Tim stated. Tori bit her lip before shaking her head,

"No. I'm going in. This is for my friend. I can definitely do this. I can totally do this," she replied, trying to pump herself up,

"Tori…"

"No, I said I am doing this. I mean it's just a building…what do I have to be afraid of?" she said, interrupting whatever he was going to say. It sounded false, like she was trying to convince herself of the truth in that statement. Tim and Stephanie shared a look before moving to enter the building, Tori after a moments hesitation followed them.

Once inside her heart quickened with no reason why. Tori took a deep breath again as they approached the front desk and asked to see Jenna—who had gotten her tonsils and adenoids out the day before and was stuck in the hospital until she could eat and drink something that wasn't ice cream. The disinfectant smell as already seeping through her nostrils. Tori breathed in through her mouth so she wouldn't smell it. She would not flashback to that Lab with Mac and those horrible doctors or scientists or whatever they had been, she would not!

They headed down the hall and into the elevator which creeped up like a snail. Tim and Stephanie might have been talking about something but Tori didn't hear them. She could only hear the creaking of the machinery of the elevator. She needed to focus on that or she'd hear everything in the hospital. It would be a sensory overload, she knew it. She would panic, she would remember and she wouldn't be able to handle it. The elevator finally arrived and they all stepped off…almost immediately Tori could hear it. She could hear the monitors of the patients, hear the ambulance downstairs blaring it's sirens as it arrives by the front doors. She could hear doctors yelling at each other for different items and at the nurses for saline drips and other things.

The three of them continued down the hallway, the monitors beeping loudly in Tori's eardrum. Tori gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the loud blaring beeps the seemed to come from every angle only to snap them open at the sudden smell. She smelled blood. Lots of it, her heart raced. Some poor patient was being cut open, like a cardboard box. The beeping intensified, one after the other until one somewhere far away just beeped steadily…someone had died, or was dying. Tori knew what that felt like. Tori took a deep mouthful of air, and another one just as they approached the door of her friend's room.

Tim opened the door and stepped inside, a smile on his and Stephanie's faces. Tori remained in the doorway, a hand clutching the knob—which was close to crumpling in her strong, tight grip— and the door frame as she took in her friend in the bed and the monitor beeping steadily beside her, a loud beep in her ears. The smell of blood still in her nose, the sound of that droning beeping, the snipping of scissors somewhere and sound of doctors talking to patients and parents. Tori's head pounded with the overload of noises and of senses. Tori blinked and forced herself to look at her friend and step into the room…only to freeze halfway. There was a doctor there, with a paper mask over his face and suddenly Tori wasn't there. She was back in the Lab, flat on her stomach…unable to move as the men in masks approached her, tools ready to cut her open and stitch her up. Tori blinked and the memory was gone, but the fear was back,

"I—I…I can't be here. I can't be here," she stated mutely,

"Tori—?" Jenna started concerned from the bed. _The beeping louder than ever in her ears, the sound of dripping somewhere, the snipping of scissors and the smell of blood _echo through her head and nose…the sounds, smell everywhere. Tori turned and stumble-ran out of the the doorway and down the hall they'd came. She pushed passed parents walking to visit their kids or spouses to see their wives or husbands. Tori ran from the beeping monitors and the smell of the hospital and blood. As she ran she flashed from her time in the Lab to the hospital again, the feeling of panic that she had felt at that moment never leaving as she sprinted towards the stairway. She needed to get out of this building before she hyperventilated or passed out or completely lost it.

Tori turned the corner and ran smack into someone. She stumbled away only to cry out in fear at the masked doctor. He or she, the doctor was wearing scrubs and a cap as well as a mask, it was hard to tell whether it was a man or a woman reached out as if to help her up but Tori scrambled backwards before jumping to her feet and sprinting passed the doctor to the entrance of the stairwell. She could hear footsteps behind her, but she kept running she didn't want to know who was following her. Not when she needed to get out. She needed to get away. Her breath came in pants even though she was nowhere near tired of running up the steps and she could feel tears streaming from her eyes. Why had she come inside…why did she think she could do this?

Tori burst through the door to the roof of the hospital. She drew in deep breaths of fresh air, of clean fresh and bloodless smelling air. The sounds fading into a muted murmur now that there was a thick roof between her and them. Tori took in several more deep breaths until her head spun and then collapsed to her knees. She couldn't hold herself up anymore. The door opened behind her and she briefly wondered if it was security…she might not be allowed up on the roof, but she didn't turn around,

"Tori?" it was Tim. Tori took another deep breath, trying to erase the memories of the past that were still trying to ink their way into existence,

"What?" she croaked,

"Are you okay?"

"No,"

"I'm walking over, please don't attack me," Tori didn't say anything as Tim made is way over and sat down next to where she had fallen to her knees, "What was it that triggered this panic attack?" he asked. Tori winced,

"The—um—it was the sounds…and the smell. And…the masks…the doctors mask," she answered breathlessly, her heart pounding uncomfortably in her chest and her hands shaking mightily on her knees, "I…I…shouldn't have come in here," she added shakily,

"We shouldn't have made you come at all,"

"You…didn't make me,"

"I know. But we should have thought of your hearing. Of your enhanced senses. And of your memories,"

"It's okay," Tori said, drawing her knees up and putting her head slightly between them, breathing deeply, "I—I don't think I—I can go back down there," she closed as her heart slowed to normal and her breathing finally evened out,

"Well you can't just jump off the building," Tim stated,

"I know," she slightly snapped, "But—I, I just can't do it. I can't go back in there. Tell Jenna I'm sorry and that I had to do something or say whatever…but I'm not going back in there,"

"You're going to have to face this fear sooner or later. And you can't do anything to compromise your ID," Tori glared at him, "I'll be there with you. You can hold my hand if you want,"

"That won't help,"

"It will ground you and keep you from flashing back to the Lab. Trust me, all we have to do is make it to the elevator and then we're out of the hospital. Stephanie can meet us back at the Manor," Tori shook her head,

"No,"

"We'll go to the cave and you can mess around on the trapeze. That'll make you feel better won't it? I'm sure Dick would love to go up and fly with you," Tori bit her lip…the trapeze would make her feel better,

"Fine…but…don't let go," ugh, she sounded like a child,

"Oh please of course I won't," Tim said, rolling his eyes and sounding offended. He stood offering his hand and Tori took it as she stood on shaky legs. They walked down the stairs and through the hallway. Tori squeezed his hand as the sounds and smells flooded her senses, as she saw the nurses and doctors walking through the hospital until they finally made it to the elevator, "Not so tight Tori," he muttered, wincing slightly. Tori muttered an apology and let her grip slacken slightly. Even once they were outside and hailed a taxi to take them back home she still didn't let go, she was still shaking and Tim just pulled her in for a hug as they rode in the back of the car. Tori was grateful for the hug. Tim wasn't much of a hugger, but he made exceptions for his sister and girlfriend. Her heart was at its regular pace and she was starting to feel better,

"Thanks Tim," she murmured as they drove through the city.


	21. ARGUING

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"I can't believe that actually happened!" Tori laughed as she helped Tim into the medbay of the Batcave. Alfred was in London for the week so it was up to them to fix their wounds—or Dr. Leslie if it was serious. Tim glared at her as he hopped up onto the medical bed and Tori went to get some bandages and suture thread,

"It wouldn't have happened if you had waited and listened to me before leaping in there with absolutely no plan!" He growled as she returned. Tori rolled her eyes,

"They were going to dunk that guy in a vat of acid. What else was I supposed to do? Would you have waited until they dunked him? Get the wings, armor and the tunic off," she said. Tim scowled but complied,

"I would have waited until I was sure they were going to do that. They only said they were going to dunk him. You just assumed they were going to—," he broke off as he winced while pulling off the harness for his wings allowing Tori to argue her case,

"You can't read body language like I can. They were going to do it. I knew they were,"

"That's not logical. You can't just know what they're thinking to do based on their body language!"

"Not everything is logical. Sometimes things are instinctive!"

"And look where that got me!" Tim snapped, tugging off his armor and the tunic of his uniform revealing a darkly stained long-sleeved under armor shirt. No one likes the feeling of armor on their skin so they wore under armor under their suits for comfort….like lugging around armor everywhere was ever comfortable, but still…

"Okay, but that was just bad situational awareness on both our parts. How were we supposed to know there was a banana peel on the floor?" Tori giggled again as she got to work wrapping the not so deep stab wounds and tugging out the one bullet that managed to hit Tim in the shoulder,

_ "Ow!"_ he cried as she did so,

"Sorry. I'm not used to feeling things like that. I forget that you guys do sometimes,"

"So…what does it feel like when you get shot or stabbed?" Tori pursed her lips thinking for a moment,

"Uh…pins and needles? Numbness? Nothing? I don't really know how to describe it. It's like all my nerve endings are gone. My body internally and externally reacts, I just don't feel it and I heal before any permanent damage happens,"

"Weird," Tim said, "So you can't get like…have internal damage from external wounds?"

"I don't think so…although…there was this one Talon Danbury told me about where a piece of a knife broke off and was stuck in his calf for a good five minutes while he was fighting. After they got it out it didn't heal properly and he walked with a slight limp ever since,"

"What about the regeneration feature? I mean, what happens if you get an eye taken out? Or an arm cut off?" he asked as he lay down for the stitches Tori would have to do,

"Feature? You make me sound like a phone,"

"You know what I mean!"

"Why don't we go find out?" Tori said sarcastically before shrugging, "I'll cross that bridge if I come to it,"

"Imagine it, peg-legged Tori…imagine the cover story we'd have to come up for that," Tori glared at him and tugged hard on the stitch she was doing causing a groan of pain from Tim,

"Owww,"

"Imagine the names they'll call you now that you've slipped on a banana peel in front of bad guys: Red Robin the slider…no banana peel man!"

"Shut up!" Tim groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes,

"Or maybe they'll just laugh when they see you in the streets,"

"Tori stop it! Tonight was bad enough as it is!"

"Aw, poor baby Tim embarrassed for falling in front of drug dealers," Tim didn't snap at her again so Tori just went back to stitching,

"You know," Tim said after a few moments of silence, "This was entirely your fault,"

"What! No it wasn't! I acted, you were waiting too long!"

"Are we really starting this again? Just admit that you messed up!"

"Oh I messed up? Says the guy who slipped on a banana peel!"

"I took out a good six guys doing that! It was strategic! You just stood there and laughed!"

"Strategic? Really Tim _really?"_ Tori tied the last stitch before slapping an alcohol swab on it,

"Yeah. I totally knew it was there,"

"If that lie keeps you asleep at night who am I to disagree," Tori said with a shrug, "…but the security footage would be such good blackmail for Dick,"

"You wouldn't!"

"…Or Barbara,"

"She could make it go viral!" Tim called, struggling to get a bandage on his freshly stitched wounds and get off the bed to run after Tori, "Tori stop!"

"…Or Jason!" she sing-songed with a smirk on her face as she dashed upstairs,

"Tori!" Tim growled after her as he fell off the bed…probably opening his stitches…Tori rolled her eyes before calling back down the stairs,

"There's some sutures on the table by the bed. I've got a paper due in twenty minutes…so, have fun fixing your freshly popped stitches yourself Mr. Strategic!"

"Now that's just cruel," Tim muttered,

"Love you too!" Tori called, down before heading to her room. She went to her computer and deleted the footage of her brother slipping on the horrid banana peel, she wasn't _that_ heartless.


	22. CONFESSIONS AND REFLECTIONS

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Tori sighed as she walked through the gated entrance. For a spring day it was unseasonably cold, forcing her to huddle up in her jean jacket and sweatshirt. She figured it was fitting seeing as where she was. Tori wove her way through the pathways, ignoring everything around her completely focused only on the task at hand, until she found the location she was looking for.

She stood there for a minute or two, unsure what to do. Tori never really thought she'd visit this place. It never really crossed her mind. She'd been kidnapped and turned into a Talon. Afterwards it had been hard readjusting to her new self and retraining herself not to kill…not to make a difference without harming others. Finally she just sat down on the slightly damp grass and stared straight ahead at the block of stone,

"Hi mom," she said mutely…the name sounded so strange on her tongue. Had she ever really called Maud 'mom' before? She squeezed her eyes shut, shifting through her memories trying to remember. She had to have called Maud mom or mommy once? When she was little? To little to remember? Or had those memories of actually placing the title of mother onto Maud's shoulders been whisked away to the void in her mind that was still completely blank? Shaking her head she opened her eyes and stared at the elaborate tombstones that marked Maud and Max's resting places. It wasn't true that she hadn't seen them, she'd been at the funeral and Jason had brought her to his grave…but she hadn't stayed…she came and went. Today she had decided to pay a visit to her mother…though she wasn't sure exactly what to say. What does one talk about to the dead? Tori bit her lip and tilted her head back slightly, "Um…I'm in college. I'm almost nineteen. I am technically undead….and I can't die…." Tori frowned…should she be mentioning that to someone who's dead? Would Maud's ghost frown at her and wonder why Tori wouldn't die but she already had?

Most parents wouldn't think that dying before their kids was unfair. Kids would usually outlive their parents, but Maud saw everything as more work she needed to do, more things she needed to improve, changes to be made and differences to be met. She was ever busy and dying hadn't been on the agenda, at least not anytime soon…but not even she could have predicted what happened. Tori bit her lip hard at the thought of her mother's death. At the time she had thought it was her fault…but it had been Mac's fault. By not paying the Talons back and failing to help them through his experiments he brought the wrath of the Court upon his success's family,

"I'm sorry that you had to die. If I had known…" Tori stopped, a lump forming in her throat, "…if I had known…I would have done everything in my power to stop them," silence, a crow cawing in one of the trees and the wind rustling the branches overhead,

"I'm sorry I put you through what I did. I'm sorry you thought I was dead when I wasn't. I was stupid. I was impulsive and too focused on…on…on _not_ being like you," she was shocked with that confession…hadn't even realized it was there to begin with but she didn't stop, "I didn't want to be just a head of a company. I didn't want a periodic way of life. I wanted…glory…I wanted to make a difference…I wanted to be strong in a way that you were not. You never completed your dreams. You let them all turn to dust in the back of your closet. I found the trophies there, the awards and letters from all over the world where your money could have made a difference…and yet you gave it all up for fame and money and power in Gotham. I didn't want to become that. I wanted to be a knight of Gotham…I wanted to save this corrupt city," after a pause in her sudden tirade Tori let out a bitter laugh,

"But I didn't save it did I? I led a madman to it. I became an inhuman assassin and killed at least twenty people in this city, maybe more...I don't even know how many really, for the Court of Owls…God, you would be so…I don't even know what you would feel about that. I don't really know you do I? I had to find those trophies and broken dreams on my own…I had to see you act as if you were a queen of ice to your own children and I will never know why…and you will never know what I have done since you've passed and for that…I'm actually grateful," Tori felt an unwanted tear slip down her cheek, "I've always had this burning passion, this feeling that I was meant for something more. That one day I'd be found by someone and taught how to save those who suffer and end those who oppress and created the sufferers…maybe I've always had that killer instinct, I was just in a society where that was frowned upon. Maybe I was right, I did find that person…and he's teaching me to be better…to be in control and to be more of a savior for this city," Tori felt a smile reach her lips,

"I won't apologize for not wanting to be like you. You were a very odd and cold person. But I did love you. I do love you. I do miss you. I may not remember all the times you were there for me…but I know they exist and I'm going to make myself remember them because while we're different because of what we chose to do with our dreams and lives…we're still very similar you and I. We both would do anything for our family—even die for them. I know you did everything in your power to protect Cameron…and so did I," Tori stood, the air whistling around her and blowing her hair in her face, "Goodbye mom. It's been great talking…we should do this again some time. I met a really amazing guy who I really want to tell you about, but I have training to do so…_rain-check!"_ With that Tori left the cemetery and hailed a taxi for Wayne Manor, there was work to be done.


End file.
